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...
so my family and i spent last weekend in Atlanta for fun... my husband usually drives when our family is together. i can drive myself around fine when i am alone. i am nervous about driving other friends around. i think this is b/c i think they will criticize my driving. i'm not bad driver, but timid, maybe. it sounds kind of silly. i also get nervous on busy highways and when passing semis. i don't think i was always like this. it may have happened when i got married and moved away. i guess i just got lazy. anyway, i decided that i was going to do some of the driving in ATL this weekend (oh, boy!) did i mention that i am not overly experienced in big city driving? so, w/ the help of my husband and the GPS, i did it. and hey, he even got pinched a time or two. there were 6 or 8 lanes - it's kind of crazy trying to change lanes to make an exit, but hey, we all lived. =) anyway, i'm still nervous about driving in that city, but i guess some of it is just practice. i'm glad i did it. was nervous about it and got a littled rattled while driving. even afterward, i didn't have that huge success feeling, but i guess that will come in time. i was far less shaky than being home alone and bored. i want to push myself out of my comfort zone. it's not fun, but i like the eventual payoff. i think that living in (artificial) fear and taking the easy way out has led to some of my unhappiness. so that's my ramble, for what it's worth. and hey my son learned some interesting words (ok not that interesting...) and he thought it was funny when i chewed the GPS out.
and on the driving subject - i forgot to mention that it was hubby's car i was driving on the ATL raceway, so not overly familiar/comfortable w/ it, but have driven it before. i just love a challenge??
another thought,i feel that labeling myself w/ anxiety has done more harm than good. i don't want to use it as an excuse. i'd rather say that X makes me a little nervous/stressed, and see what i can do about it. i'm better off seeing it as a finite item that i will get thru, and not something hanging over my head, if that makes sense.
jrbk - maybe you can just add a mile each time?