Clarity

Hey guys, here's my first actual fiction post. It is not at all related to the "love" post, it's just something I thought of. Let me know if you like the story and give me some good feedback (I'd like it if people could focus more on writing style and my phrasing, little things like proper spelling are important, but it doesn't actually change how I'm writing)! If people show interest in this idea then I'll expand on the character. It may be kind of morbid, but you can just get over it.

     Joe lived in a perpetual state of war. He lived with a great hurricane in his mind, a maelstrom of all his concerns and frustrations, that had raged perpetually since his birth. A pugnacious soul, Joe constantly fought against most aspects of his life with a vigorous  drive that was somehow frightening and endearing all at once. Shoveling the driveway was a skirmish with the cruel mother nature. Breakfast was not just a meal, it was a battle. He didn't cook his eggs, he dominated them, frying them up with a strange sort of ferocity that brings a slight smile to the eyes, like a proud parent who watches his 5 year old try so hard at soccer. But this war on the world wasn't always so endearing, more often then not it ended with bruised knuckles and battered pride.
      Then Joe got sick. HIV. Those three letters embodied 24 years of rage and senseless self-destruction. The bottle of AZT in his medicine cabinet became his new body armor, protecting him from the environment he had always loathed and now feared. The disease left him with a crushing sensation, like the time his brother caved in their igloo and the snow nearly suffocated him. The maelstrom of his mind only swirled faster these days, with rent, taxes, work, and illness piling up on the to do list. All the while Joe could feel the death lurking in his viens, patiently waiting for the first sign of weakness.
       The first time it happened Joe didn't even understand what he was feeling. He was driving home from work when he let go of the wheel. The maelstrom of his cluttered bitter mind started to slow while the car sped up and veered into the other lane. Have you ever just laid in bed and relaxed every muscle in your body? If you clear your mind and relax your body soon you'll find your thoughts wandering. Joe's war against the world had taught him that, just like waiting at a bus stop or taking a ticket at the DMV, sleep was only a means to an end, a necessary evil. Relaxation just wasn't a priority to a man like Joe. He began to feel that wonderful drifting sensation and it seemed that the faster the car sped the more profound the state. The maelstrom settled into gentle rocking waves, his mind slowing down and releasing 24 years of pent up tension. That clarity was nirvana for a man whose mind had never slowed down.
       Autopilot took over and just as Joe thought that it would all end his hands grabbed the wheel and saved the day. The clarity of that moment still echoed in the dark recesses of Joe's mind while the deep bwoong of the semi echoed in his eardrums. Now that his clarity had slipped away all that Joe could think about was getting it back. The maelstrom raged once more and he could feel it slowly ripping away at his soul. When Joe flirted with death on that freeway he had found the eye of the storm in the chaos that usually reigned supreme.