I have a 14 hour road trip coming up next month that I have been nausetingly nervous about an entire month out. I’m even trying to seek out a counselor for a bit beforehand because near daily I get sick to my stomach thinking about it. I have bad driving anxiety and I know thats the core of it, but I’m also nervouse since I dont know the people I’m going with super super well, which adds to the driving anxiety component as well as just general anxiety. I’m also super nervous about being tired/feeling sick during the trip and terrified of being away from home/my partner for the week, and dreading the exhaustion upon returning and attempting to finish the work week. my work is also offering to send me to a conference a few days after I get back but the fear of exhaustion + another two hour drive so soon just adds even more anxiety. any advice??
Are you the driver or a passanger?
I think we’re switching off?? though we are taking my car so its probably up to me… there are definitely pros and cons to each.
I’m no therapist but a lot of these worries seem quite reasonable for a long trip with (I’m guessing) people from work, though it sounds like they’re weighing on you a bit.
Your idea about a therapist is good, might be worth looking at something like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. That’s more solution focused and can help with addressing a specific issue like “I’m scared of this trip” etc.
Aside from talking to a professional, you could address some specific parts of the “big worry” in smaller bits. Like, I rarely drive and also get anxious before long trips especially if I’m going somewhere unfamiliar - I know from past experience that I’ll become more comfortable with the drive as I get further into it, but it’s the setting out I get hung up on.
So I’ll do a couple of things
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Make an effort to drive around locally a few times close to my actual departure date, just to re-familiarise myself with driving. If you don’t own a car, you could look at booking a couple of refresher driving lessons.
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Hop on Google maps and do a dry run of the journey on street view. I’m not suggesting you click through every screenshot of a 14hr journey, but I find it helpful to get an overview in my head. Eg. Head out of town towards the next big town, then on towards whatever big city, looks like I’ll have to actually go through a bit of this town so I’ll just have a look on street view to see what it’s like. Etc.
For the social anxiety bit - that is hard but also remember, you’re the driver and you have a job to do, which is focusing on the road. You’re not there to be the life and soul of the party, leave that to the freeloading passengers! Also, if it’s a work trip, you could find a work related podcast or, even better, put someone else in charge of entertainment.
Stuff like this can seem overwhelming when looked at all together, but if you can break it down into smaller parts and address those individually, you’re lessening the overall burden.
Best of luck :)
I’ll try that, thank you! I’m hoping for some CBT in my sessions because I’m prone to getting so hung up on little things. And you’re right, after going over it a bit I’m still anxious but the impending sense of doom is dying out a bit once I visualize what it’ll be like step by step in the moment.
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A really, really good audiobook. Like, the most engaging, engrossing, entertaining, page-turning-if-it-wasn’t-audio thing you can possibly get your hands on, in whatever your absolutely favorite genre is.
Maybe even just your all-time favorite book, in audiobook format, narrated by someone new.
this sounds like a great idea when we’re out of conversation topics a few hours in