I’m 50. Got my driving licence in another country at age 17. Whilst not loving it, I drove fine for a few years, but then moved to London and just didn’t need to. Very occasional and easy driving when visiting my home country but I tended to avoid it.
I’ve left it a long time but thought I would re-sit my licence here. (It doesn’t transfer over and I wanted to start from scratch in any case). Had a couple of refresher lessons before Covid. Age 47/48. Feeling well in myself. All good. Driving fine. Set to have another lesson or two, then sit the test. Then Covid and other things intervened.
Now 50, and in a bit of a brutal perimenopause. Can’t take things in, emotional, teary, frequently anxious. Had two recent driving lessons and I was so frustrated with myself and ended up in tears during the lessons. No confidence. Things I could do fine - like parallel park - are just gone. My brain freezes. Same feeling as when someone was trying to explain to me how a new lock worked on my front door - different mechanisms in a different order to before. I just couldn’t take it in. Along the same lines, but weirder, was when a friend was talking to me on the phone when I was stressed about work and had just read an anxiety-inducing email. The friend needed urgent help on something administrative within their life (all fine, I was helping) then suddenly asked me if I wanted a kitten, of all things, but I needed to tell them then and there so the neighbour with the kittens could hold one back. My brain just froze and I burst into tears. I mean, what the heck!
Already booked is a week’s intensive driving course in June. Residential, out of London. Costs over £1K. I can cancel now and lose just the £100 deposit. Thoughts? Throwing good money after bad at this point?
(On HRT, oestrogen levels still very low, dosage gone up, next check up in May).
Driving isn’t urgent. Except I never thought I’d be someone who “didn’t drive”.