Overcome Fear of Driving » driving anxiety

Getting To The Root Of Your Driving Anxiety

cecil — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 08:38:39 +0000

Thousands of people across the globe suffer from some type of driving fear/phobia/anxiety or another. No one is immune to such psychological effects as these.

Overcoming the anxieties that affect your ability to drive comfortably is very important in this fast paced world and finding the root to your anxieties is the first step in becoming free of them.

This article will explore how to find the root of the problem and where to go from there to achieve your independence.

The Many Roots Of Driving Fear

There are many reasons that people experience fear and anxiety when it comes to driving.

‣ Past accidents/fear of accidents
‣ Fear of traffic and other cars on the road
‣ General Anxiety Disorder issues
‣ Fear of learning how to drive
‣ Fear of getting lost (many times due to having that experience before)

These are just a sampling of the reasons we feel driving anxiety. You can take your own reasons and apply the things in this article to them yourself for the same results.

In The Beginning

Many times, if you just explore your past, you can pinpoint the reason for your fear/anxiety. If you have been in, seen, or had a family member involved in a car accident them that root is clear.

If you are fearful of learning how to drive then maybe you have a parent who never learned or maybe you have GAD and fear any situation that puts you at risk for feeling stress.

No matter what your fear is, looking back to find the beginning of it can be a significant changing point in your life as it will allow you to move forward with the knowledge of why you feel how you do.

This is the beginning of personal empowerment.

Getting Started

To find the root of your driving fears, begin by thinking back on your first experience with this fear. What were you doing? Who was driving? How old were you?

These are important factors in figuring out why you are fearful of driving. Once you can figure this out, you can map out a plan of action to overcome this fear.

You Found It; Now What?

Now that you have found the root of your driving fear you can address it on a rational level.

Let us say for example, your fear of driving stemmed from being yelled at by your parent while being taught how to drive. This has made you feel incompetent behind the wheel.

You have been driving around all this time feeling incapable of doing it well while all the time it was because of someone else’s teaching methods. From there you can find the right technique for you to overcome this fear.

For a case like this, basic reframing and positive self talk would be beneficial.

What If I Cannot Find The Root?

Sometimes no matter how hard we search for the root of our driving fear we cannot find one. This can be frustrating for those who are fearful, as they want to be able to understand why they are fearful.

If you cannot find it right away, keep looking. Talk to others from your past such as parents, siblings or other family members and friends from your past.

Someone may remember something they find insignificant that can really open some doors for your memory.

Hypnosis

If all else fails you may want to try hypnosis. By allowing a professional to perform hypnosis on you, you may be able to find the cause buried in your unconscious mind.

This does not work for everyone but is certainly worth a try if nothing else has worked for you.

There Is Help

Whether or not you have been able to find the root of your driving fear you can still begin treatment. One great way of overcoming your driving fears is by using self help programs.

A good program can even help you to uncover the root of your fear when nothing else has worked.

A great program for this is The Original Driving Fear Program. Give self-help a shot. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Calming Foods Can Ease Driving Anxiety

rodney — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 05:09:41 +0000

The calmer you feel when you get behind the wheel, the easier it will be to manage your fear of driving.

Obviously, it’s not a good idea to eat a sugary snack or drink a large cup of coffee before driving if driving makes you nervous.

Caffeine is a stimulant and refined sugars will send your blood sugar soaring and then crashing down.

Consider also that you should not eat foods that may be difficult to digest just before you are going to drive if your anxiety about driving tends to give you stomach trouble.

You Are What You Eat

So what should you eat or drink?

There are actually a number of foods that have a calming effect on the nervous system.

Some components of foods that are known for their calming effects are complex carbohydrates, the minerals potassium and magnesium, and vitamin B6.

Keep Your Blood Sugar Levels Steady

Carbohydrates keep blood sugar levels up, but unlike simple sugars, complex carbohydrates maintain a steady blood sugar level for a longer period of time.

In contrast, simple sugars (sweets, sugary drinks and products made with white flour) raise blood sugar sharply only to have it crash shortly after.

That’s why simple carbohydrates will give you a jittery feeling while complex carbohydrates will keep you feeling calm.

Complex carbohydrates are found mainly in whole grains and vegetables. If you have stomach issues, you will probably want to cook vegetables before you eat them.

Vitamins and Minerals That Keep You Calm

Potassium and magnesium are minerals that relax muscles. They counteract the effects of calcium and sodium, which cause muscle to contract.

When your muscles are relaxed, your body and mind will be more relaxed as well, and you will feel less anxious.

Potassium is found in grains and cereals as well as potatoes and certain fruits. Magnesium is found in leafy greens, nuts, beans and whole grains.

Your body uses vitamin B6 to make serotonin, an important chemical in your brain that regulates your mood. People with more serotonin tend to be less anxious.

For this reason, people who suffer from anxiety sometimes find vitamin B6 supplements to helpful. You can also get vitamin B6 from foods, including wheat germ, seeds, leafy green vegetables, egg yolks, beans, meat and fish.

More Suggestions

If you need more help deciding what to eat before you drive, read on.

There are some suggestions below that include good sources of potassium, magnesium, B6 and complex carbohydrates, as well calming herbal teas and some foods that can help the digestive system.

Bananas are an excellent source of potassium and they also contain vitamin B6.

Spinach is a complex carbohydrate, and it is also a good source of magnesium.

Nuts are another excellent source of magnesium. The nuts that are highest in magnesium are almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews and pine nuts.

If you like fish, choose halibut or tuna, which are both good sources of magnesium as well.

Brown rice, whole grain breads and whole grain cereals are good choices because they are primarily complex carbohydrates.

Be sure that cereals do not have added sugar though. You can check the label to see how much of the overall carbohydrate count comes from simple sugars. If it’s more than 4 or 5 grams, you might want to avoid that product.

Herbs and Digestive Aids

There are several herbs that can be used to make calming teas.

Chamomile tea is widely used for its calming properties. You can also make relaxing teas from passion flower, jasmine or valerian.

You can also look for blends of herbs that are combined to create calming or “stress relief” teas.

Plain yogurt is another good thing to eat before you are going to drive. It contains “good” bacteria for the digestive tract as well as the amino acid tryptophan, which has relaxing properties.

Avoid yogurts with added sugar. If you want to flavor plain yogurt, try adding unsweetened applesauce and cinnamon or a mashed banana.

Other foods that have can help the digestive system are papaya, ginger and peppermint. Ginger and peppermint can be used as ingredients in cooking or to make tea.

As you experiment with these foods and others, you will find the ones that are the most calming for you as well as the ones that upset your stomach or cause you to feel anxious.

Be sure that you regularly stock your pantry or refrigerator with calming foods so that you will have something to eat whenever you do need to get behind the wheel.

The more you can do to calm your body, the easier it will be to work on the mental and emotional issues that surround your fear of driving.

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.