How mind exercises can help anxious drivers

How mind exercises can help anxious drivers

The fear of driving can manifest in many ways, and for a thousand different reasons. In fact, 30.7% of Australian drivers consider themselves a ‘worrier’. However there’s a few sure-fire ways to combat driving anxiety that can work for just about everybody.

Some people reject mindfulness exercises out of hand due to not understanding what they are, or thinking they’re vague spiritual nonsense. Mind exercises are simple and useful grounding exercises to help your logical mind overcome panicking.

Every anxious person knows the feeling of understanding how silly their fears are, and still feeling trapped by them. Next time that happens, try these on:

Breath in deeply: This is simply to ground yourself, to get some oxygen into your brain, and to help focus on your surroundings.

Name five objects that you can see\hear\taste\touch\smell: One of the biggest problems with anxiety is that we start to disassociate with our own body. By making sure that you’re present and accounted for, you’ll help stop propelling yourself into a state of panic.


Don’t try and fight back the feelings: It’s okay to feel anxious! One of the worst things you can do for anxiety is beat yourself up for feeling these things, leading to a spiral of anger and more anxiety. Instead, allow yourself to feel your anxiousness, and then tell yourself that you’ll overcome it.

Pay attention: If you experience similar symptoms each time you feel anxious, such as shortness of breath or a cold sweat, then learn to see the warning signs of anxiety before you progress too far. Stop early and try out a few things from this list as a preventative measure, rather than after you’re already feeling it strongly.

Talk to somebody: Whether it’s a professional or a trusted friend or family member, if you’re feeling awful you should seek help. If you were coughing too hard to work, you’d go and see a doctor, right? Mental health is no different; go get well and learn to cope and fight back with some knowledge and allies.

This article was written by Gwen Mackey
Bio: Mother, daughter, wife & writer. Just one of many Wonder Women in the world. You can follow her on Twitter.