Hi, here's my story

topic posted Sun, May 18, 2008 - 7:22 PM by  Unsubscribed
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I did not get my license until I was almost 18. (I'm now 33) My grandparents raised me from birth, and my grandfather died when I was 14, just before I could learn. Grandma did not drive, so we had to rely on other family members or taxis to do grocery shopping or run simple errands. My grandmother hired a driving instructor a few times, but it was expensive, and not enough training, but it did help me get my license. Since then, I have only driven close to home, and only when needed. I get lots of anxiety behind the wheel, especially when pulling out of busy shopping areas or merging into fast moving traffic from ramps. I have lost boyfriends over my lack of driving, since I am afraid to travel more than 30-40 minutes away from home, and can't drive to meet them. Recently, I was given a GPS as a gift, and event though it helps me with directions, it does nothing to calm my fears of just being on the road in real time traffic, and knowing what to do in certain situations. That would only come from experience which I don't have.
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  • Jan
    Jan
    offline 0

    Re: Hi, here's my story

    Wed, May 6, 2009 - 7:12 PM
    The reason that I don't drive stems from me surviving a car accident when I was 15. I got a traumatic brain injury, and I couldn't even try until I was almost 17, legally. There are some things that go differently for TBI survivors, and they sometimes don't learn things the same. Well, I didn't get the right training, so that didn't work, and I didn't get a license. There are also some psychiatric problems commonly caused by TBI, and the most common is bipolar, and it is Very difficult to learn anything when you are un-medicated and bipolar. Because of this, I probably won't get any more driver's ed instruction; I am medicated now, but the correct driver's ed would cost more than I think I could ever get insurance for. I don't envision myself ever getting a driver's license, which is too bad, because where I am, in Oklahoma, doesn't have very much public transportation, but I make due.
  • Re: Hi, here's my story

    Wed, May 27, 2009 - 9:26 AM
    those of us who are afraid of fear (our own and dealing with them)
    are so quick to stigmatize others for their own
    i really don't know - how could i? - whether the following applies to you,
    but hyper sensitivity and normal physiological fear are often assumed to be
    the same as another's "psychological" fear
    the two are not the same
    the first springs up, instinctively, as a sane and healthy response to an actual threat
    the second is thought's torture rack and will not be present when there is an actual crisis
    as long as their is that former response

    driving in this society is damned dangerous
    only a fool numbs themselves to that!
    i have no way of knowing whether another should do it or not, other than the blatant devastating effects
    the auto culture has on this entire planet in so many ways!
    perhaps you need to come to terms with driving
    perhaps the body is "saying" that it wants nothing to do with it ...

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