Anxiety Support Group
Anxiety is a physical condition marked by intense and persistent feelings of distress, fear, angst or dread. General anxiety caused by routine day-to-day stresses usually passes quickly and is experienced by almost everyone at one time or another. However, such feelings that linger over time and are very difficult to cope with, and which lack a clear cause, may indicate...
I am a very anxious driver, but my anxiety is particularly bad about driving at night. I haven't driven at night often and when I have it has mostly been short distances. A part of my issue is I feel blinded by the lights of oncoming traffic at times and it really freaks me out.
I have to do a group project for an online college class. The 'leader' of the group wants to meet twice a week on campus in the evening which means I would be driving at home in the dark. I drove home from campus once at night and I had some issues feeling blinded by the other cars as I mentioned above. I am scared it will cause me to get into an accident.
There was supposed to be a meeting yesterday, but my anxiety was so bad I told them I couldn't make it. Our professor is making each of us submit a weekly report evaluating the members of our groups so I feel like it is imperative I go to future meetings, but I am terrified I won't be able to make it.
Has anyone dealt with this driving at night issue and feeling blinded by the lights?
I have to do a group project for an online college class. The 'leader' of the group wants to meet twice a week on campus in the evening which means I would be driving at home in the dark. I drove home from campus once at night and I had some issues feeling blinded by the other cars as I mentioned above. I am scared it will cause me to get into an accident.
There was supposed to be a meeting yesterday, but my anxiety was so bad I told them I couldn't make it. Our professor is making each of us submit a weekly report evaluating the members of our groups so I feel like it is imperative I go to future meetings, but I am terrified I won't be able to make it.
Has anyone dealt with this driving at night issue and feeling blinded by the lights?
What I did in the end was figure out where else I could look. I could look at the white line in the centre of the road. Without that, i could look at the side white line. Failing that, I could look down.
You end up with a repertoire of other places you can look; or else you use your hand to shield your eyes. also as you get to know the road better and better, that really helps.
Go drive the road a couple of times during daylight, so you know where you are going and what to expect from it. :)
I agree with bridgie above in that going driving the route many times will help. That is what I did, the familiararity is soothing. I do still feel like that in fog though, feels suffocating so I give that one a miss and don't give a dam who thinks I am a wimp.
You could also figure out a back road route to campus...like one that goes through residential neighborhoods where traffic won't be an issue.
If you know any of the people in your group, maybe you could ask them to pick you up and you could carpool with them in exchange for gas money or something.
What if you were blind or had night blindness? You'd likely say, "I can meet with you on campus if you can pick me up (or take Uber or a bus or cab or whatever) or we can meet at my place (or a nearby coffee shop)." And they'd say "of course."
What we don't realize is that most of the time people just say, "ok" when we tell them, "I don't drive at night so could we meet earlier or on a weekend during the day or can I get a ride with someone?" Those are all perfectly reasonable requests.
It's okay to tell them your boundary. Everyone has limits for whatever reason. You're allowed to have them too. Just speak confidently and don't be ashamed or embarrassed.