Women are not confident drivers.
Are you sick and tired of hearing ‘Oh that’s a woman behind the wheel’ (if you are a woman driver) or having “the look” when parking your car? Are you tired of all the funny YouTube Videos we all have watched and the common opinion that women can’t drive? Well, I am.
I noticed it in my own life back in my 20ties.! There is some presumption in the Air that women can’t be good drivers and even if it seems like a joke the actual funny thing is that we really can accept this ‘belief’ to be true. And act like it is, and with our actions make it even more real.
Let me explain:
I took my driving licence back in 2005, but I didn’t think I have got the best possible training. I wasn’t feeling confident on the road. And it showed in my first attempts to drive my Dad’s car on my own. It was a disaster. I was so so scared, anxious, nervous that I was almost paralysed behind the wheel. After a couple of minor panic-caused incidents, I started asking myself some serious questions…!
Am I gonna drive the car without anxiety and panic one day?
Should I even continue trying or just take public transport and forget about having a licence? Is it possible I just don’t have the reflexes needed to become a good and confident driver on the road?! Anyway, maybe women are not meant to be drivers at all! Maybe you’ve asked yourself similar questions, too.! Driving yourself a little mad, second-guessing yourself and wondering if you’re good enough!
I was devastated, I was convinced by other people’s opinion that the minute I’m behind the wheel I will cause an accident. Innocent people will die because of me and I will be spending some not at all nice time in jail. (It’s funny how this looks right now to me, but then it was freaking real all in my head day and night) .
Long story short I gave it a couple of times during the years, lot’s of people tried to teach me how to drive a car but the result was the same.
Panic behind the wheel.
Maybe I remember some brief moments when I was practising alone in the dark at night. When everyone is home and I’m safe. I felt blissful happiness listening to a favourite song and just me and the car. So you could see my friends I have had all the skills needed to drive the car, I knew all the laws better than lots of people …then what was stopping me. And what might be stopping you?
Now, let’s dig a little deeper…!
What’s actually going on?!
Why are we struggling with this in the first place?!! Because, on the face of it, we’re doing everything right!! It’s simple!
What we’re missing out is even if we have everything we need to do something (drive a car in this case), our subconscious mind is so powerful that it can sabotage us from succeeding in doing it.
And what really is stopping us is our own thinking. All the scenarios we have so colourfully painted and pinned in our consciousness that we feel the feelings and the panic before something even is happening. That my friends paralyse us and that’s why we are giving a poor and unconfident performance on the road.
In comparison what confident drivers do in this case is they just go out, sit down and drive. Just reacting at the minute something happens on the road. They don’t imagine ”what if” I got in the accident or if this or if that. They just Do it. And it is so so simple. ( This is just my own observation and analysis.)
Then what we are most afraid of ….. is what will happen after we get in the car and the possible dangers on the road. We are afraid of not knowing.
But you know what else?!! There’s a simple answer to this!
Just make sure you to become comfortable not knowing.
Just try not to pay attention to all the noise inside your head. Turn the volume down and drive. Act as if you are a confident driver and you will be. You are. Just take these unnecessary insecurities about the future and yourself of. They are just that thoughts, nothing more.
Just remember when you are scared, you are scared from your own thoughts.
Oh let me tell you my favourite thing to do now is to drive my little blue car and I feel like a Formula 1 driver some times #confidentontheroad #womendrivers #womencandrive. (Only drive reasonably, always be extra careful and focus on the road)!
I really hope this helps…!! Coz’ if you truly get what I’m saying here…!! You never need to struggle again not only with driving but with bigger challenges life throws at you! I love bringing you this kind of knowledge.!!
More to come next week!
With Love Dimmi