The Roadblocks In Your Mind: Getting Over Your Fear Of Driving
It is essential now. Wherever you are, you’ve got to drive in order to get anywhere on time. And whether you’ve been driving for a while and your technique is a little rusty, or you haven’t been driving for a while, but now it has become a necessity, when there are certain anxieties associated with getting behind the wheel this can cloud our ability to drive but also put us off driving for life. When we have a fear of driving, it is not necessarily about one single component, but we’ve got to figure out the reasons why we have driving anxiety. So let’s provide you with a plan of action to get yourself on the road again.
The Reasons For A Fear Of Driving
To be fair, there is no one-size-fits-all reason why people develop a fear of driving. Some people have a fear of driving stem from a bad experience or a fear of accidents. Fear of accidents or “dystychiphobia” usually covers people who avoid every situation that increases their risk of physical danger. And while you may think about the fact that a car accident could cause scoliosis or could result in a life-threatening injury, there can be a combination of anxieties. Reasons people fear driving can be down to claustrophobia in the vehicle or performance anxiety. When you start to break down the reasons for your fear of driving, you can start to tackle these problems one by one.
Tackling The Symptoms
We have to remember that while we’ve got reasons why we’re scared of driving, they can manifest themselves in specific symptoms. It all depends on the person, but some can feel dizzy, short of breath, confused, or even have heart palpitations. While some people might not experience these types of symptoms, if you have any of these, it could be solved with medication or counseling to address an underlying issue. There are general tips that can help. For example, managing your stress is a simple way to reduce symptoms of anxiety. If you are someone who quickly gets anxious, getting behind the wheel of a car can be one of the most stressful situations.
Stress management encompasses so many different components, but there are specific techniques that can help people that have a fear of driving. For example, there are driver hypnosis courses that can help you to break down the mysticism of being behind the wheel. As well as this, there are desensitization techniques that involve putting yourself into situations that trigger anxiety symptoms. From the perspective of a driver, getting into a car with the engine running could be the first step. When we start to consider our symptomatic reactions, we can then begin to undertake the appropriate course of therapy. Using therapeutic techniques like desensitization can take a long time to go from one stage to the next, but you’ve got to remember that you are always progressing in the right direction.
What If It’s Impossible To Overcome?
We can pinpoint our problems to a handful of specific situations behind the wheel, and we may worry that we’ll never get over a fear of driving. We’ve got to remember that if it’s too much, we shouldn’t force it. When we cause unnecessary stress for ourselves, this results in a feeling of danger for the people in the vehicle and can cause dangers for other people on the road.
You have to remember that if confidence is the underlying issue, there are ways for you to help yourself back to driving with a more proactive mindset. Having a few lessons with an instructor, especially if you’ve not driven for years, can be the perfect way to bring back that muscle memory. Or if you’ve got a particular fear behind the wheel, for example, driving on the freeway, you need to build up your resilience. Going from driving to the end of your street and back is the first step, and gradually you can start to cover more distance. As soon as you begin to build up your confidence you could look at driving near the freeway and seeing what people do to get on it safely, but also there’s a lot to be said for looking at other idiots on the road. When we are so scared of driving, but some people are going from A to B without issue, it can fill us with a bit more confidence.
We have to remember that it’s normal to feel some sense of driving anxiety, but it’s not something that should stay with us for life.
Tia, and TipsfromTia.com is trying to keep you looking good and
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