Social anxiety and driving
Hi everybody.
I suffer from social anxiety and even though it was very difficult for me, I went through the process of getting my driving license recently. Driving in the presence of other people triggers my anxiety (and the road is full of people driving other cars) and I can't seem to get rid of that nervousness before I take the car.
As soon as I know I have to drive, I get the feeling that I'm not good enough at driving and I'm afraid of making mistakes (being judged, I guess) and hurting myself or other people by not driving properly. Also, because I know I feel insecure before driving, I get to think that driving isn't a good idea because it's not safe to drive insecure (I feel bad for feeling bad?). But, at the same time, when I drive, after driving for a while, the feelings disappear, I don't think I'm a bad driver anymore and I actually have fun. Then it all starts again the next time I need to take the car.
Learning to drive was a hell because of my anxiety. Thethought that it would get better and I would end up knowing how to drive by practicing and confronting that situation kept me from quitting. And I thought that all of the anxiety would be completelygone after gettingmy license but, even though it is not as bad as it was when I was learning, I still get anxious
Does it happen to any of you? Do you have any ideas of how to overcome this?