Overcome Fear of Driving » driving anxiety

How To Cure Driving Anxiety

rodney — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:48:03 +0000

You can’t. You can never get rid of anxiety. But you need not! Anxiety is something that you require for driving and living for that matter. Your body needs it for its protection.

But before you turn away from this article you’ll be glad to know that anxiety CAN be reduced to its original level which is low enough not to overwhelm you.

Anxiety is a security feature built into our system. When our body senses potential danger it flashes a road sign in the form of anxiety that indicates that there’s danger ahead. We only need to read it and our body prepares itself to tackle or negotiate the possible danger.

The body prepares itself by taking one or more of the following measures: heightened resolve, increase in adrenalin level, increase in glucose level, increase in heart rate, faster breathing, increase in blood pressure, stiffening of muscles for impending action, more blood supply to the limbs, dilation of pupils for wider view, and sweating to help cool the body.

The intensity of these physical symptoms varies from mild or moderate to high according to the specific situation.

Thus you can see how important anxiety is for survival. It is a healthy thing because it’s a sign of growth and life. If you feel anxiety it means you are ready to take on change.

So where does it go wrong?

When and why does anxiety turn into a panic/anxiety attack? It is the mind that makes unnecessary fuss of physical symptoms.

It multiplies the anxiety several times and turns it into a bully that hounds you and scares the wits out of you.

How to defeat the bully? Just ignore him

Anxiety is basically a road sign that shows you potential danger ahead. So you must look ahead and ready yourself to drive better.

But if you keep looking at the anxiety, your thoughts make it so big that it starts acting like a bully. Deal with it just like you would deal with a playground bully as a child. Simply ignore it.

Bullies go away if you ignore them. They thrive on attention. Your anxiety bully will try to scare you and pester you, but it is all hollow inside.

It has no strength other than your own imagination. Keep ignoring it no matter how hard it tries to stomp its authority. In a matter of minutes, it will be gone.

Trusting Your Experience to Get Rid of Driving Anxiety

rodney — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:37:26 +0000

The mind is a highly complex thought mechanism capable of mighty things. But it can also be downright absurd at times.

So always remember a principle that will keep you in safe stead: “When you are feeling anxious, don’t trust your mind; trust your experience.”

The mind is a flurry of thoughts. Thoughts are just thoughts; thoughts are not YOU. Know when to take them seriously and when to disregard them.

Everybody gets all kinds of thoughts. But not everyone behaves the same in response to those thoughts. The difference lies in how each one of us reacts to those thoughts.

Thoughts, especially when you are a bit anxious or fearful about something (say, driving), can be totally irrational and nonsensical. This has got to do with our animal instinct – that which gets us on high alert in response to something potentially dangerous.

This is what we evolved from hundreds of centuries ago. This part of our mind cannot think logically, it just reacts. It senses some possible threat and goes off, because it wants to protect us. But since it cannot detect the threat it leaves us with unwanted anxiety and fear.

Well we don’t need it anymore especially when it comes to driving a car, and therefore we must ignore it. Do not bother entertaining anxious or scary thoughts. Just be logical in your approach and trust your experience.

If your mind prompts, “You are going to veer off and crash,” question yourself, “Have I ever veered off or lost control of my car before because of anxiety?”

In all probability, you answer will be “never”. Should you then entertain any more of these silly thoughts?

Trust the law of averages:

Just take an overview of facts related to your fear of driving. As an example, consider some traffic stats in the US.

How many passenger vehicles run on the roads each day in the US? – Say around 100,000,000.

How many accidents, minor or major, happen each day in the US? – About 10,000.

What are the chances of you being involved in an accident? – 10,000 in 100,000,000. That is 0.01%.

Should you spoil your journey fearing something that has just 0.01 percent chance of occurring?

With some time and practice, if you observe your thoughts calmly you will realize that they are just thoughts, not facts.

You will learn to ignore them or not take them seriously. You will start trusting your experience and focus on the job at hand – driving.

Thought Flipping to Overcome Driving Anxiety

rodney — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:27:13 +0000

Do you know that it’s not thoughts that cause anxiety? The same thought evokes different feelings in different people.

The thought “I’m wary of driving over bridges” makes you anxious but for someone else it might set him up for a little challenge. Let’s take an example to understand this better.

Consider you are playing baseball and are positioned in the outfield. The game is down to the wire and one more pitch will give your side the game.

The atmosphere is tense. The batter cracks the ball high and the next thought you get is “It’s coming to the outfield!” Another outfielder has the same thought, “It’s coming to the outfield!”

But the feeling that this thought evokes in you is different from his. He feels elated thinking, “Wow let it come to me, I’ll catch it, we’ll win the game and I’ll become a hero.”

And what’s your feeling? Anxiety. “Oh no, I hope that doesn’t come to me.” Same thought, different reactions. It’s the same with the thoughts you get while driving.

When you get anxious thoughts while driving, you allow feelings of anxiety to be generated in you. If not nipped in the bud, anxiety quickly consumes you.

Your fear of driving only worsens when you give reactions like, “I’m going crazy… I’m going to get a panic attack… I’m gonna lose control… I’m gonna pass out… I’m gonna crash…”

All scary and irrational thoughts. What if you could give a different reaction like the other outfielder in the baseball game? Can you do it? You can, if you are aware enough to catch anxious thoughts before they spiral into a full-blown anxiety attack.

Give a different reaction to the slightest hint of “butterflies in the stomach”. Instead of saying “I’m gonna get a panic attack,” say “Let me face this, this is exciting!”

Instead of entertaining some negative thought just say to it, “Let me deal with you later. Right now I’m busy driving my car.”

If you get a thought “Oh no,” just say “So what? Can’t I handle this?” If you are driving over a bridge and get anxious about veering off into the water, just say “What a stupid thought!”

Simply flipping your negative thoughts into positive or challenging ones will turn your attitude by 180 degrees. Almost instantaneously you’ll get back to the job at hand.

It needs a little bit of practice but very soon you will be able to dismiss, laugh away and flip your negative thoughts. It is that simple.

Anxious thoughts deceive you into believing that something is very wrong. But once you master the technique, you’ll realize that it’s no big deal.

Driving Anxiety and Panic Attacks While Driving

rodney — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:54:43 +0000

Do you know fear is a defense mechanism? Fear helps you act against potential danger and not do dangerous things.

Fear of driving, in its innate and sublime form, is there to protect you. But when it turns into driving anxiety and panic attacks while driving, it hampers your performance rather than help you in any way.

Here we present you with solid tips and techniques to cure your panic and anxiety attacks while driving. When you apply these techniques you will see your panic attacks disappear, and what will remain is awareness to spot signs of fear and take appropriate action to protect yourself.

So don’t worry about fear, let it come to you whenever it is useful. And it is definitely not useful when you pull it towards you and multiply it a hundred times to create panic for yourself.

How to Prevent Fear Turning Into Panic or Anxiety While Driving

Most of us have a slight fear of driving. A frightful incident while driving creates an impression in our mind that plays to itself the next time we drive.

While most people manage to douse the fear, some tend to kindle it and inflame it with every passing incident. They make fuss over physical symptoms of fear like sweaty palms, trembling or dizziness, which makes them even more scared of driving, eventually ballooning into driving anxiety and panic attacks while driving.

The trick is to catch the moment of fear before it soars to uncontrollable heights. Just keep yourself occupied in the present moment and you’ll be just fine. This article is all about remaining in the present. Anxiety is nothing but anticipation of fear.

The fear may or may not be real, but the anticipation of fear is definitely real, detrimental, and hard to bear.

Just look at the present moment. Look at the cars ahead of you. Enjoy the experience of operating a marvelous machine on wheels. Keep your breath flowing and don’t let it lock up. Be aware.

Trick to Quickly Dissolve Panic Attack While Driving

Here is a fantastic technique to avoid an impending panic attack while driving. It may look insane upfront, but it works every time to douse your driving anxiety. Here is how you do it.

Consider you are driving on a freeway or a long bridge, places most of you would tend to panic. Suddenly you start feeling the heat and you get squirmy with fear. Your hands start trembling and your palms start sweating.

Now what you need to do is observe your feelings (identify them), accept them and worsen them. Yes you heard right. Worsen the feelings and symptoms yourself.

Once you have identified and accepted your feelings, make them worse on your own. If your hands are trembling, you make them tremble more by putting in a conscious effort.

If you are feeling jittery, consciously take control of your body and make it jitter more. If you feel like shrieking, gather yourself and consciously shout out something.

What happens is you gain control over your feelings. You realize that you cannot really make them worse. You remain firmly in the present and avoid spiraling into anxiety and panic. This technique will help you relax and avoid panic attacks while driving.

Periodically as you drive, you can perform a relaxation procedure to keep yourself nice and composed. Here is one relaxation technique to help you relax from time to time as you drive, especially if you feel anxiety building up in your system.

Relaxation Technique While Driving

1. Relax your forehead, eyes and jaws. You’ll be surprised how much tension you had unnecessarily built up around that region. Tell yourself it’s fine to relax the muscles of your face.

Relax your jaws and slightly part your teeth. A relaxed face is not going to drop your stance; it is going to equip you with more awareness and alertness.

2. Slightly roll your head both ways. Roll your shoulders clockwise and anticlockwise. Bend your shoulders blades backwards and press them against each other. Hold for a few seconds and relax.

This will soothe your nerves. The best time to perform this exercise is when you stop at traffic signals.

3. Squeeze the wheel tightly with both your hands and relax. Repeat a couple of times. This will make sure you are not holding the wheel with more effort than needed.

4. Squeeze your buttocks together and relax. Repeat twice more. If you have been clenching your buttocks too much while driving, this exercise will relax them and your nerves.

Practice this relaxation technique periodically to get rid of any anxiety while driving. You can practice it on freeways, traffic signals, or before entering a bridge.

There’s nothing really to be scared of while driving if you know how to drive. Unless your driving capabilities are not up to the mark, the only thing stopping you from driving confidently is your mind.

If you engage it in the present moment, anxiety and panic are never going to haunt you. Panic and anxiety attacks while driving are only due to the mind running into the future or harking back to the past.

Use the techniques given above to good effect and keep your mind in the present.

Driving is easy. Just look at those that text as they drive, eat and drink as they drive. This is not to scare you away from the roads but you have you realize that driving is a piece of cake!

Final Words

Practice. Practice your way up and resist the temptation to test yourself directly over bridges spanning water or speeding on the freeway. Each time you drive, increase the duration of your drive.

Remember, your aim is to get better. Don’t try to achieve perfection; it will only lead to more anxiety attacks while driving and make you more scared of driving.

Having said that, it is better for you to go and drive rather than sit at home thinking of fear, anxiety and panic. If you have decided to follow the techniques given here, it is your best chance ever to get rid of driving anxiety and panic attacks while driving. Good luck!

Check out the Driving Fear Program in which you can find ample tips and tricks and proven methods to eliminate fear, anxiety and panic attacks while driving.

The program is a well thought out guide that comes from the actual experiences of the author as he learned how to drive fearlessly from being a nervous driver.