Driving Anxiety

Are you anxious or terrified while driving? Have you stopped driving because it feels unsafe?

Driving anxiety may include symptoms of sweating, trembling, shortness of breath, a rapid heartbeat, and a feeling of impending doom or loss of control. These can be eased by the grounding and orienting practices we know are effective with other forms of fear and anxiety.

This form of anxiety can limit our life’s activities

Unless we are in a major urban center with public transit, most of us are limited when we can’t drive. We need to get to work, buy groceries, go to social activities, and take our children or grandchildren to their activities. The car-pool parent is familiar because it is so common.

Driving is convenient. Not being able to drive ourselves can lead to more social isolation, distress and feeling trapped.

16 and getting our drivers license! It is common to shame ourselves for feeling anxiety and fear, especially with driving, as it is symbolic of freedom and adulthood. What does it say about us if we can’t drive? If we have a license but are scared? Are we weak? A child needing to be taken care of?

Obviously we don’t need to drive a car to be an adult or to be worthy of freedom and responsibility. We can examine all of these beliefs and…