Learning To Drive With Social Anxiety
1 - Find The Right Instructor
This is the most important part of taking on the task of learning to drive, I spent hours contacting different driving schools trying to find the right instructor. I also knew I didn't want to go with any of the "well known" driving schools in my area either and more of the independent ones instead. I must of contacted about 15 different driving schools, with only a few getting back to me, thankfully one that did get back to me is the one who is now my current instructor.
I mentioned on the contact form that I struggle with social anxiety, and was looking for an instructor who could handle that and help me with my lessons, I got lucky that my instructor arranged a phonecall with me a few days later just to have a chat so he could introduce himself and talk me through what would happen on the first lesson. It made the first lesson so much easier to go into and meeting him for the first time aswell, knowing we had already had that conversation on the phone.
Most instructors will usually offer you an introductory offer, this is so you can both see how you get along together and if actually learning to drive is for you. My offer was first 4 lessons for £99 which was broken down into two 2hr lessons, and luckily me and my instructor have the same sense of humour and get on well and our lessons are something I look forward to every week now as they are always full of laughter especially when it came to reversing out of a parking space for the first time haha, luckily I've got a lot better at it since that first time!
2 - Don't Be Afraid To Ask Questions
If there's one thing I've learned from starting lessons, its to never be afraid to ask questions if your unsure of something no matter how small you think it is. I remember on my first ever lesson I asked about the little circle mirrors that were attached on the wing mirrors and also about how far away from a give way line I needed to be.
Honestly though even if you think its a silly question, I can 100% guarantee your instructor won't think its silly and will be more than happy to answer any questions you will have. Even now 4 months into my driving journey, I still ask questions if something comes up, and as my instructor always tells me "remember your still learning" and trust me I come out with some random stuff at times haha.
3 - Choose What's Best For You: Automatic or Manual?!
I did a lot of research into this even before I done my theory test, in one way I wanted to push myself to learn how to drive a manual car and take on the task of learning all the gears and clutch control, but then in another way I knew my anxiety would probably get the better of me. So in the end I decided that learning automatic was the best option for me and my anxiety, and I have since said to my instructor that if I had gone with manual then I 100% would have probably given up learning by now!
Automatic for me just takes away all the stress of learning when to switch gears, when to put the clutch down and also I have no worry of stalling the car in an automatic either. That's not to say learning automatic is "easy" in any way, there is still so much more to learn than just the gears, and even now I'm still learning new things on every lesson even after nearly 4 months!
0 comments