Driving anxiety
Hey guys,
Im struggling a lot with anxiety when it comes to driving. I’m 3 days away from turning 22, i’m married, own a house, and i’m in the military. i’ve done a lot of scary stuff in my life. but when it comes to driving I really struggle. when I was 14, I tried to drive for the first time and I crashed my dad’s car into a rock and totaled it. it was pretty traumatic. almost 8 years later, i’m finally learning how to drive. the past few days i’ve been doing really good, until today when I accidentally put my car up on a curb because i’m driving in an unfamiliar neighborhood with a weird traffic pattern. it brought back all the negative feelings of when I crashed. nobody was hurt and my car was not damaged. I just feel so frustrated because I feel like i’m never gonna get it. I feel so far behind everyone else. I know i’m being hard on myself. it’s just so frustrating because I feel like this is my biggest obstacle in life, and I can’t seem to grasp it and i’m scared I never will be able to. any and all advice, words of encouragement, or similar stories are welcome. thank you.
@em312 I totally relate - I am 32 now but I didn't get my driver's license until I was probably 25 or so. It feels so embarrassing and discouraging when you see others doing it so easily starting so much earlier than you! And the crash must have been super scary, no wonder you're having trouble!
Just take it one trip at a time, you've got this. I can promise it gets easier and eventually will be no big deal to hop in the car and just go. I'll say that I still don't really LIKE driving, but the fear does go away after doing it enough.
Oh, and don't stress about bumping the curb - I still do it every now and then and I'm a pretty dang safe driver otherwise lol.