If you suffer from serious driving anxiety, you may have given up driving altogether…along with hope that you can ever drive again. If you’re asking yourself, “Will I ever be able to drive again?”, I’m here to tell you that you can drive again — if you’re willing to make the investment in yourself.
Overwhelming fear of driving is painful. Not only does our quality of life diminish when we wonder if we’ll ever be able to drive again, driving anxiety can also cause real physical effects associated with stress that can lead to more serious health issues. So, the question “Will I ever be able to drive again?” is actually pretty important.
Why People Get Afraid They’ll Never Drive Again
Most people with debilitating fears of any kind also suffer from serious damage to their self-esteem. Whatever our particular fear trigger is — whether it’s driving, heights, spiders, or anything else — we feel we should be able to control it. We are intelligent, functioning adults in most areas of our lives. What’s wrong with us? Why can other people handle this seemingly normal part of everyday life, while we feel we just can’t “get it together?”
If you suffer from serious driving anxiety, you can probably remember a time when you were able to drive without fear, or with less than you have now. But driving anxiety can get worse over the years. It remains like a gray cloud in our minds, gradually becoming so large and persistent that many sufferers find themselves unable even to get behind the wheel of a car.
Once people have reached this point, it’s easy just to give up hope that they’ll ever drive again.
Why You Will Be Able to Drive Again
But the news is very good. As we’ve seen in other posts, driving anxiety is very treatable. A recent study from the New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development confirmed that anxiety issues and phobias are some of the most easily treated negative thought distortions. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people improve their lives through successful treatment of their driving anxiety and other fears.
There’s no reason this can’t also be true for you.
To make it work, doctors say most adults will need some form of outside help. It’s human nature to want to handle problems on our own. At the same time, if we knew how to “get over” our driving anxiety alone we probably would have done it by now. Far from being a sign of weakness, seeking help shows self-respect, initiative, and courage.
People with anxiety problems have a wider range of treatment options available to them than at any time in history. These include several types of counseling, stress management techniques, alternative therapies, and medication. The key is to make a commitment to finding the approach that works for you.
Finding Your Own Treatment Solutions So You’ll Be Able to Drive Again
Try not to get hung up on finding the “perfect” solution. For example, don’t spend so much time researching treatments on the Internet that you fail to take action. The important thing is to begin — try something, even if it turns out not to be the perfect long-term solution. As long as it isn’t dangerous, and is professionally recognized as a legitimate option, you will probably learn something from everything you try.
Reach out to someone — your doctor, a friend, a family member — it could be any sympathetic, trusting person. Just opening up and sharing the problem can take a load off your mind and help you feel better.
Chances are very good that as you do this, you’ll find that driving fears and other anxieties are much more common than you thought. You aren’t alone.
Start asking professionals and other sufferers what options are out there. Keep an open mind. You didn’t develop this fear overnight, and it will probably take a while to get the relief you want. But even small steps can instill a sense of real hope.
Will you ever be able to drive again? The chances are extremely good that you will, if you’re willing to be patient with yourself and not give up. So begin. You deserve to live life to the fullest, and to take the time necessary to make this investment in yourself.
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