So… I got my diver’s license as soon as I turned 18. It was a very stressful period of my life, and I hated everything about driving. They promised me freedom, but I got shackled.

Passing the exam as a nightmare (took me 3 attempts) and even during the lessons the professor saw how horribly tense I was. I got sick just by thinking about the car.

Once I passed, my family decided that I’d get over my fears by forcing me to drive, every single day, for weeks, with the whole family in the car, yelling, mocking me…

I had several panic attacks that were dismissed as lack of maturity, and I stopped driving. It’s been years.

But now I’m going to have to get better at this due to circumstances, and I’m scared.

I feel that I can’t focus on all the elements of the road, I have a very hard time calculating distances because I’m very short (edit: 1’50m, if that is relevant) and barely see above the wheel, I have to move the seat so close to the wheel that I fear that if one day the airbag jumps, I’ll suffocate. My blind spots seem infinite.

My car is automatic, so no stick to worry about.

If you have read all I wrote, I’ll greatly appreciate any advice or encouragement. Thank you

  • over_clox@lemmy.world
    2·
    15 days ago

    Also, just sitting in the car without even driving can help you locate and familiarize yourself with the other non-driving controls, like the headlights, parking lights, internal lights, horn (yes even the horn can be in different areas on the steering wheel depending on what model), mirrors, windows, door locks, emergency flashers, heat and air conditioning, radio controls, etc…

    You know, all the otherwise barely mentioned distractions aside from the typical dipshit on their phone texting. Yeah, get familiar with the miscellaneous controls on the vehicle so you can keep focus on the road and traffic when actually driving.

    Man I sure hope you ain’t got one of those new ‘smart’ cars with a touchscreen as the main control console…