Learning to drive, help needed for nerves please!

[loldie99]

After years of avoiding it I will be starting to learn to drive tomorrow. I have put this off until now as I'm terrified. Please share your experience of learning & any advice for me, I don't know how I'll sleep tonight, I know I'm being pathetic!

You'll be a good driver as you understand how important it is to know what you're doing. Take your time. Have enough practice and really know your stuff for the theory. It's the people that know no fear that cause more accidents. Get confident by having enough training. You'll be fine.

You won’t be officially in charge of the car OP, the instructor will. And he will have dual control brakes etc, so will not let you get into danger or hit other vehicles!
Look forward to it as exciting and fun, learning a new useful skill in a safe supervised environment.
Nobody expects you to be perfect from day one, so be relaxed about the inevitable mistakes. So what if you stall the car and oversteer - we’ve all done it, we all had to learn.
Think how chuffed you’ll be when you pass your test.
Stop fretting, be positive, and have a lovely fun lesson!

Yes. Brilliantly liberating. You'll be fine. Being worried about starting is a good sign, not bad. X

It's exciting, well done for taking the plunge. I was terrified too, but after the first few lessons I loved it, and I look back now and wonder why I didn't do it sooner. Think about the independence and opportunities you'll have after you pass your test. It's honestly changed my life. Rest assured, it is going to be well worth doing!

Thanks for the encouragement, it’s really appreciated. I will try to see it as a new adventure & not something to be so scared of.

Little update & thanks again for replies. First lesson just finished, a really nice instructor helped put me at ease. I did manage to start the car & do a little circular drive & I'm very relieved. Long way to go but even getting that over & done with feels like a relief. x

Well done! A good start.
Just take it one step at a time and don’t pressure yourself to be the world’s greatest driver when you are still learning the ropes - you’ll get there!
Another tip is to push yourself to get over things you dislike by asking your instructor to tackle it head on and go over it repetitively. For example I hated roundabouts when I was first learning, I found them stressful and pressured and felt very anxious approaching them. So I told my instructor and we had a whole extra lesson just on roundabouts, over and over - difficult ones, easy ones, big ones - the repetition meant they lost their ‘fear factor’ and I was so used to doing it by the end that I never had any problem with them again. It was difficult - but worth the push!

Thanks Sparklesocks, that's a great point.

Well done for getting out there and doing it

I started learning five months ago, I’m in my late twenties so fairly late to start. Never bothered doing it before because I lived in the city, now live in a small town and it’s been a shock to my system!

Anyway, I was also pretty scared before the first lesson but it was fine. You won’t drive straight away, the instructor will most likely take you somewhere secluded like an industrial estate then will guide you through everything. Remember they have dual controls so they won’t let you crash. Your confidence increases as the lessons go on.

My one tip is to change instructor if that one doesn’t work for you, don’t feel bad about this. I changed instructors after the first ten lessons and wish I did it sooner.

Good luck .