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Old Topic just same Fing narcissism

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sKePTiKal:
You're doing all the right things to build your confidence in the vehicle and yourself, Meh. Just give yourself more time on the lesser travelled roads before adding in lots of traffic. It's takes some time & experience to develop the intuition of being able to predict what other drivers are going to do, especially when they're going faster. And the fewer distractions around you, the better!

Yeah, you don't want to practice driving while you're tired or upset or overly nervous. Take it nice & easy, practice regularly - in the rain, too - and remember to pat yourself on the back for taking this big step; important for your future. It takes as long as it takes to feel comfortable enough to expand your driving times & distances.

lighter:
I think you might be right about coffee making your anxiety worse, Meh.

When I'm heading into anxious situations I put coffee down completely out of self preservation.

If you narrow focus down to those deep sighs and what's going on around you, it might help  limit the looping fearful thoughts.  They sound very upsetting....and distracting too.

Normally coffee, the ritual of it and aroma are comforting.... are touchstones of my day.

Dropping it

Hopalong:
Hi Mouse, Boat, beyond Meh--

My first real smile of the day was reading this. Seeing you confront your fear and face your anxiety over driving and take these baby steps (baby drives) into freedom makes me happy.

https://www.calm.com/blog/driving-anxiety

When I was younger and had full-blown anxiety disorder with frequent panic attacks, I was living near DC and the traffic was horrendous. And this was in the 70s! I spent time going over an enormous bridge to the coast -- only way I could go from point A to point B. At times, I'd get near-paralysed with fear on the bridge: sweating, trembling, hyperventilating, etc. It really felt awful. But I had to keep going. Ultimately, that's what cured my driving anxiety. I just kept going.

My point is: that's ALL GONE. I got therapy for anxiety, for as long as it took, learned to meditate, paid attention to what my body needed, and in time, it worked. Also am on a low-dose SSRI (Lexapro) which wiped out residual anxiety symptoms nearly overnight. Just to say, the anxiety you feel now is not a permanent condition.

Even if you just drive lovely farm roads in spring with your favorite tunes or a rescue pooch...even if that was all you ever did, it's a new chapter now.

The biggest thing I finally caught on to was that anxiety attacks don't kill you, even though during them you can forget what is true. I read and read and read about them and learned what the body was doing (adrenaline, etc) and how to ease it back.

So glad you got wheels. HAPPY DRIVING! And I hope when you move again it'll be someplace with good public transportation, so when you don't feel up to driving you won't have to.

hugs
Hops

PS - Mega dittoes to Lighter's coffee advice. When my anxiety was crippling, a therapist said to me that with anxiety, caffeine is like pouring gasoline on a fire. Went back to chamomile for a long time. Now I have one strong cuppa tea/day, and it's fine.

Meh:

Thanks Skeptikal, Lighter, Hops.

Meh:

I'm tired. I spent 6-7 hours pulling weeds and moving bricks for "fun"... I'm not sure if it's fun but I think weeding and gardening is something I like to do because I don't THINK very much while I'm doing it. No thoughts about my worries/problems/impending multiplicity of dooms.

It's better than staring at the wall or at dirty dishes which are almost always there no matter what.

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