7 Mistakes While Overcoming Fear of Driving

The seven biggest mistakes that people recovering from fear of driving do are listed below. Avoid committing these mistakes to prevent failure in your mission.

Mistake 1: Not Taking It Step by Step: Your fear of driving a car cannot be eliminated in one driving session. If you try to do it and encounter a scary incident, you will further retreat into driving phobia. Practice your way up. Take it step by step.

Mistake 2: Not Understanding the Body’s Anxiety Response: Symptoms like lightheadedness, sweaty palms, shaking, etc. are the body’s natural stress responses. They are there to help you with heightened concentration and alertness to tackle the difficult situation. Don’t worry about them; else you may get a panic attack.

Mistake 3: Speeding Through Practice: If you try to reduce the duration of practice by speeding, you essentially program your mind into believing that driving is scary. Slow is the way to go. Experience all your feelings as you drive; don’t try to escape them.

Mistake 4: Waiting to Feel “Ready” for Practice: You will probably never feel ready to go one rung up the ladder of practice. It is always after practice that you feel good about it. So just get on with it and challenge yourself to up the difficulty level.

Mistake 5: Comparing Yourself with Others: If you compare yourself with others in spite of achieving good progress with practice, you will always find something that you lack, resulting in great disappointment. If you want to compare, compare only with your previous state of progress.

Mistake 6: Avoiding Fear: As you already know, physical sensations when you face your fears are not going to harm you in any way or cause panic attacks while driving. Don’t avoid your fears; face them. It’s the only way to make progress and get rid of your fears.

Mistake 7: Doing it All Alone: It is always good to have a companion while driving. They make you feel relaxed. But make sure he or she doesn’t have the habit of giving unwanted instructions or is someone you rely on heavily while driving.