Seiko
"Nothing's gonna hurt you, baby."
- Jul 9, 2021
- 167
All my life, I've had severe driving anxiety. This phobia has pretty much taken over; my school is online, I Amazon/Doordash most of my stuff, and if I need to go somewhere—I ask one of my family members to drive me. I'm 20, got my license at 16, and can only count maybe two or three times I've driven alone.
I was waiting on my father to wake up so I could have someone supervise/coach me on my driving. I'm not too sure what happened at the moment, but despite all the doubts in my head, I loaded up Google Maps and drove myself competently and safely to a local Starbucks and got drinks for everyone in my house.
I started yelling in excitement once I finally parked. It felt like I opened up new avenues. All my life, I'd been extremely insecure about my ability (or lack thereof) to drive. But now that I've finally broken the ice, I can drive myself to do my own things... alone. That's the best thing I could ask for in my current stage of life.
It's not all glory, though. I tried a longer drive afterward on the freeway, and I'm definitely still a bit clunky and need more practice. And anxiety is still a very real issue, but what I've done today is at least prove to myself it's surmountable and I can safely drive to locations relatively close to my house, which is a huge accomplishment for me.
I just want to be a good and safe driver. I just need the experience. But getting the experience won't be pretty. I've unintentionally made a lot of people mad while driving, but I'm trying my best to recognize when I made a mistake and correct it for the future. Maybe in the next couple of months, I'll be able to drive wherever I want.
I was waiting on my father to wake up so I could have someone supervise/coach me on my driving. I'm not too sure what happened at the moment, but despite all the doubts in my head, I loaded up Google Maps and drove myself competently and safely to a local Starbucks and got drinks for everyone in my house.
I started yelling in excitement once I finally parked. It felt like I opened up new avenues. All my life, I'd been extremely insecure about my ability (or lack thereof) to drive. But now that I've finally broken the ice, I can drive myself to do my own things... alone. That's the best thing I could ask for in my current stage of life.
It's not all glory, though. I tried a longer drive afterward on the freeway, and I'm definitely still a bit clunky and need more practice. And anxiety is still a very real issue, but what I've done today is at least prove to myself it's surmountable and I can safely drive to locations relatively close to my house, which is a huge accomplishment for me.
I just want to be a good and safe driver. I just need the experience. But getting the experience won't be pretty. I've unintentionally made a lot of people mad while driving, but I'm trying my best to recognize when I made a mistake and correct it for the future. Maybe in the next couple of months, I'll be able to drive wherever I want.
