I'm starting a new thread for my effort to overcome my driving anxiety. It's been a month since I had my episode of panicky driving. And today I finished (I hope) stage 1 of dealing with it. I drove to a wildlife preserve that I've visited frequently in the past, but could not reach even a week ago. Some unsteadiness on the way down, but none on the way back. 4 lane highway with lights.
A month! That's slow. But I AM progressing, and I have to keep extending and trying roads such as freeways. That's Stage 2.
Again, not sure of the protocols here about near daily updates. These are mostly to keep myself on track.
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Serinus
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Sounds like your making great progress. A little at a time. That's how I did it. I started driving the car late at night cause no traffic out. Which build to me dropping off my boyfriend at the time at work and picking him up. Which then later build to doing errands on my own. Then to driving on the highway! So you got this! 👏👏
So how it's going with driving to? I pray I can get back out there soon. I live in the mountains and love driving around here. Praying u'll have some good today.
Today I drove "automatically" (my best level) on the freeway for a few miles to my food store. No problems at all. But I have driven there before, so this didn't constitute "pushing" myself like I did yesterday.
However, I need to integrate this calm driving into my overall experience and tell myself I'll get that way with more challenging driving. I'd really not want to think that every driving experience is going to be me battling fear. Even if I overcome the fear, that's no way to have fun! So I have to keep telling myself that the "automatic" driving I experienced today IS possible for more challenging situations in the future. I hope so.
Another day of driving further - I drove past the wildlife refuge I mentioned previously to another one further down the same road. And that's halfway to one of my bigger destinations. (I sure hope it doesn't take another month). I was a little shaky driving down, took a walk at the 1st wildlife refuge, then continued on to the further one. After that stop, I had no more issues with the rest of the trip.
I'm missing out on activities, but I AM progressing. I can't raise my head too high to look ahead - I start to ask myself, "but, what if I can't do this?" Instead, I need to focus on the next drive, and what that will be. It's taking longer than I thought it would.
Didn't do as well today. I drove the freeway to one exit beyond my last. That went fine. When got back on it to drive home, I started having trouble and panicky feelings, started hitting the brakes. I got off and sat in a park for a few minutes, got back on (only had a couple of miles to go) and drove, not too smoothly, to my home. I guess I have to drive that route again tomorrow.
We all have good and bad days. We have to expect some setbacks. But also not to let that get to us. As someone once said "don't let all the wins go to your head. Don't let all the losses go to your ❤️" You got this! You are progressing just fine.
Tomorrow is a new day. Look at how your progressing. You are already planning to go out and try again tomorrow. That's great! Perhaps I should follow drive with a drive of my own!
Thank you for the encouragement Cl3V3R-GIRL. I duplicated my route that gave me problems yesterday. I had no problems today, although I did have a stop in the middle to pick up some groceries. I feel I should try it again with no stops.
But thank you for the encouragement - I like that word - "en-couraged" - sort of like moving in an air pocket of courage - and hoping I breathe it in!
I don't really have a mantra, but I keep repeating to myself, "I want to do this, I want to do this."
I duplicated this route again today, this time with no stops, and in bad weather conditions. Still didn't feel totally smooth but basically ok. I feel I need to do it again
Still working on this same route. I can't seem to get smooth on it. Today better than yesterday. How long to keep working on a stretch? I still feel I need to do it again. What constitutes progress? What constitutes pushing oneself?
Drove down a different road today that I know I will need to travel in the next couple of weeks. However, I didn't reach the freeway portion. The rest of it was fine. In fact, it was the most "automatic" driving I have done in more than a month. I even had a few minutes of enjoying it.
Drove a little - and I mean just a couple of miles - further on this highway I will have to drive in the next couple of weeks. But those were freeway miles, so they count more!!! I was a little shaky but did ok. I just wish I could flip a switch and get over this. But I'm sure everyone feels that way.
Drove my problem route again today. Still having panicky symptoms. But actually, this is getting kind of funny. This is my 7th try on a 6 mile portion of freeway that isn't even particularly challenging (and which I've driven previously hundreds of times). Except for 1 time, I've completed the trip uninterrupted, if not particularly smoothly. So I'm laughing at myself a bit. Because I'm going to get this down pat, sooner or later. And I'm actually teasing out the "grains" of discomfort. Because it's not the WHOLE 6 miles (or 12, counted both ways). Southbound doesn't bother me. And MOST of northbound doesn't bother me. There's a two mile curving portion that is the hardest. So I'm going to start clipping meters off of this portion until it is no more.
Drove my 12 miles twice today, once in the morning, once in the afternoon. I was smooth in the afternoon! I'm always much steadier then. That was my 8th and 9th drives on this particular stretch. I am mentally shaving the meters off the problem section. This afternoon I kept waiting for the panicky feelings to start - I was going to reset the mileage when that happened. But it didn't happen!
Drove my 12 miles twice again today, once morning, once afternoon. Smooth again in the afternoon, even on the "problem portion." I think I'm ok on this stretch now. Only took me 11 tries!It's still not automatic, but I'm not afraid of it.
Drove part of the road I'll need to travel in a couple of weeks. About 40 miles total, without stopping and almost automatic. Tomorrow I'll push it to another exit.
Starting to feel like driver education, not in terms of learning new skills, but rather the "process" - getting out there, getting in a car, having an objective that isn't a destination, and coming back, all to repeat the next day.
Well I did push it to another exit today, but not the one I was hoping to reach. Only a bit further, and I felt less smooth today. But, to look on the positive, I DID go a bit further. I will try again tomorrow.
In the afternoon I drove my old difficult route (12th time) and it looks as though I really have overcome the fear on that route.
I hope this process starts speeding up - I can't drive every problem stretch 12 times!! 😀
Drove over 100 miles today, no panic - but I wasn't on any freeways. And I wasn't perfectly smooth on the farthest reaches. But most of it, I was "automatic."
Two days in a row on the same route, a long stretch with lights followed by a bit of freeway. Not smooth either day, but in different places each day. Frustrating, but I think tomorrow I will be smooth.
I feel as though I'm not making any progress. I'm going back to the same stretch of road daily, and am not feeling better at it, perhaps worse. I have to keep at it.
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