Driving Anxiety

I can remember when I lived for road trips, traveling brought me a sense of peace and adventure. Unfortunately, I had my first bout of driving anxiety several years back and driving has not been the same for me since.

After my first bout of driving anxiety, I stopped travelling for fear of having a panic attack while traveling. I let that one episode of driving anxiety stop me from doing something that brought me so much pleasure for years.

I recently decided that I was going to start traveling again in spite of my anxiety. I started out kind of slow by traveling to the edge of town and then over the course of several months drove further and further. I know this would sound ridiculous for anyone who has never experienced anxiety or panic attacks! :-)

I have some friends that live around 300 miles away and hadn't seen them in several years; that would be my first task driving to see my friends. I decided it was worth being anxious in order to see my friends.

The day of the trip I was extremely anxious. However, I told myself I could handle this, jumped in the car and headed out. I also gave myself permission to turn around at any given moment during the trip if my anxiety became overwhelming. I experienced several panic attacks including one really bad on half way to my destination, but I really wanted to see my friends and I kept going.

Yes I was uncomfortable the entire trip, but I made it! This was a huge victory for me and I realized that I really could live my life and do anything in spite of my anxiety. Take your time, be compassionate with yourself, and realize that you are going to be anxious, but you can handle it. And if you can't, turn around and try again tomorrow!