Shaking... Anxious.

So my partner has fire training today and asked me to drive him to the place - no issue there usually but it was right by a primary school, the traffic was really bad. I tried to park in the park nearby but there were cars everywhere, I was blocked in and trying to get out of the way of a woman I dinged my car on a post (no damage) before managing to get into a tiny space out of the way as people don't know how to park blocking in the woman next to me accidently. Then as I was trying to get out again (by this point my anxiety is sky high and I'm shaking) as I was trying to get out, some dude then blocks me in and my partner loses it and starts shouting at this guy to be patient and to let me out of the space. As I'm pulling away by this point i am at the point of a panic attack I hear this dude losing it towards my partner and my partner yelling. I have no where to park and run back (probably a good thing given my history of defending my partner against aggressive dudes and squaring off to 6' men when I'm under 5'). I get home and I'm now an anxious mess and cannot calm down. I messaged my partner who was fine but said "the guy had no balls" which makes me panic and I asked if he did something stupid like hit him and he hasn't replied. I get he's in training but my intrusive thoughts have taken over and I am an anxious mess which has thrown me for the day. I'm also fearing someone will have recorded it and put it all over social media because people do that around here and I can't take it. 

Any tips on how the hell I can calm down and stop over thinking all of this? I had plans today and it's all been thrown to the wind.

Sorry and thanks for listening to my ramblings.

  • Glad I could help :) hope you feel better.

  • Thank you. I really hate things going wrong when I drive - like you said it's so difficult to come down from. My partner called me on a break and asked if I was okay and received a very blunt "no"

    I will take your advice as scrolling Facebook reels for 2hrs hasn't helped much. Playing a game is a good call! Thanks :)

  • Hi, that sounds really stressful. I often can get in a similar state when thing go wrong when I drive. It can be really difficult to come down from that place and shut your brain off. 

    I would do something to distract myself while I calm down. Find something that takes your focus off your thoughts (tough I know). Listen to a podcast, music, watch tv, play a game. You will need to process these feelings, but right now I think you need to try and relax yourself.

    I’m sorry you had a bad experience and hope you feel better.