Published on 12, July, 2020
Aged 7, I was on a coach on a school trip. Returning from a day out, there was no toilet on board, so went to the front of the coach and asked a teacher if they would stop because I needed to pee.
Instead of stopping, they forced me to pee into a bucket in front of the other kids.
This single event amplified into issues I already had travelling on public transport.
Today, after 10 years of London living and since moving to the coast, I still struggle to even step on to a bus. Trains offer a similarly difficult proposition.
I was wondering what issues you found with travel and if you had ways of overcoming them that I may learn from?
My issues weren't caused by such an obviously traumatic incident. I'm so sorry it happened to you. Idk how possible it is to totally overcome something like that without therapy or something.
But after I had kinda a total breakdown I had to start over from the point where even getting on a bus for one stop was something really difficult. My main strategies were to repeat small steps as often as you find doable and build from that, relaxing music (ideally something you can also focus on, following one instrument and keeping your mind on that) and I found distracting myself with video games helped a lot. I don't know how helpful this will be to you :/
Thanks for the response. I have since managed to travel into London and back (2hrs) but it's pretty much agony unless I managed to time it right and get a quiet service.
They should offer carriages that are for silent travel. Those quiet coaches full up so quick it's pointless as the mass of people is worse than the noise