Lost confidence in driving. will it get better?

[Misschattyx]

Hi all ive had a bit of a nightmare regarding driving. I passed it test 9 years ago later in life and everything seemed ok. I've aways been abit of an overthinker and worried about driving to places i didn't know so always stuck to places I did know.
I had a near collision 8 months after passing my test (not my fault) which did make me nervous but I pushed to continue driving. From then I started making mistakes like stalling and people beeping at me, parking I never got the hang of and I got to the point of everytime I got in the car on be so nervous so I came home one day and hung up keys and refused to drive.

Now ive started a new job and relying on my dp to get up really early to take me and I walk the hour home. My dd is also in her last year at primary and wants to go to a school that's an hour walk away. She's really quiet and had a rough time with girls in her class so what to make the transition as easy as I can so id love to be able to collect her from school after work. So ideally I need get back to driving.

We have brought an automatic car and ive been practising parking in a car park and drove yesterday and my lane discipline was awful. Dp said I was veering more to the kerb than the middle and I was forgetting to indicate off roundabouts. I think it's going to be harder than I thought to get back into driving.

How long did it take you if you lost your confidence? Will i get better and regain confidence? It's really playing on my mind as I really want to do this.

Ex instructor here - go and pay for a couple of refresher lessons with an instructor to get back into it.

It sounds like you'd benefit from some lessons again or an intensive driving course. There is no shame in it.

I have breaks between scuba diving and have to have some refresher training to remind myself of skills and get my confidence up before I go out on fun dives again. No reason driving wouldn't be the same.

Instructor here, find someone who’s kind and patient then have refresher lessons.

Thankyou for your replies. Im quite angry with myself that I never just got back in the car. Dp has tried iver the years to get me back into the car but I refused until now because it'll be so much better for me work wise and to help my dd. I've spent 8 years walking in the pouring rain and snow on school runs even though the car has been sat outside my house.

My dp has been taking me out and has been really good. He's taught me an easier and more realistic way to reverse park so im starting to get better at that. Dp says im fine driving it's just little things that he thinks is my nerves mainly. My nerves are fine once im actually driving. I think it may also be getting used to the car as well.

I have said to my dp if I feel like im getting nowhere ill definitely be doing a refresher course. Getting an automatic has really helped as its taken the pressure off having to use the gears as well.

You’re doing the right things!
get an automatic ✅
have some refresher lessons
practice! Drive every single day - round the block, to the shop and back etc.

i didn’t drive for 8 years for similar reasons, these all helped me and I’m now much more comfortable and confident

I would get some lessons in your position. I've been driving in my rural area for ages but I've never driven in cities as I haven't needed to. If I had toove to a city, I'd definitely get lessons even though I've had my license for yonks. No shame!

Refresher lessons and I think you just have to grit your teeth and do it for your dd. Practice the routes v v early morning, when there's no traffic about.

I had some refresher lessons after I’d not driven for a while. And then I picked some ‘safe’ routes to practice on my own - places I was comfortable driving to and knew I’d be able to park easily as well (so I could practice that too)

As someone else said earlier, drive every day! That really helps