Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi all,
Just wondering about peoples thoughts on this!
I've been finding that driving can often be a bit overstimulating for me. I overall enjoy it, the freedom it gives me is second to none, plus its a good place to scream at my loudest when I need to because no one can hear on the motorway. But i've found that just sheer volume of visual information is sometimes a bit much. Especially when it comes to the constant things ongoing in the mirrors that I can sometimes get distracted by when i need to focus on what's in front of me. This is especially during the dark, headlights in mirrors etc are so distracting and uncomfortable for me.
Obviously driving for long times is tiring for anyone, but even my normal commute home (35-45mins) at the end of the day really just takes out what little energy I have left after work. Any one else feel like this?
Thanks,
Euan.
I'm generally OK with the day to day very familiar routes and my own company. But finding somewhere new, especially in the dark, spikes my anxiety massively and every last minute lane-crossing that others seem to do with fluid ease and inuitive confidence becomes this sequence of 'well, you've had a good innings' moments.
I had to drive a friend home last night. Nice guy, and I was glad of his innately good sense of direction as we headed to his from the town. But at a certain point I knew I was on a route I could follow from memory to get him to his front door. But he got irked with my choices as they didn't follow the fastest route (in his mind anyway) and his 'what are you doing?' reactions ('You're going to be tuck behind them now', 'you should have been in that other lane', 'this is going to take five minutes longer') made me capitulate to doing things his way even though retracing the sequence I know would have been most relaxing for me. Basically I'm too submissive a driver! It should be 'my car, my rules'... but I've never had that kind of personality. Anyway, it was all fine really, but my nerves were morre jangled than they could have been by that atmosphere of judgement. It is an understandable ruunning joke between us about my awful sense of direction, but sometimes when I know I'm in familair territory and doing the best trade-off of speed to safety, I do feel a bit humiliated. Driving alone, I only have to justify my choices, and mistakes/corrections, to myself.
Today, I took my Artist friend to Belfast, and back, I parked at Little Donegal Street. Then we went to the Art Gallery, then the Oh Yeah! Music Centre, and got a taxi back to where I parked; my mate has a bad knee.
On the way back, I ended up blocking a junction where the light was green. Thank God I was able to switch lane, then get back on the lane towards the M2. First real experience of Rush Hour traffic in the city.