My mom will not drive past a certain point in the city. She has such an intense fear of driving that she only allows herself certain places to go that she feels comfortable getting to. These would include grocery stores, malls and a few close friends. I saw for years how miserable this has made her. It’s so confining I would ask her, “why are you so fearful, what’s the worst thing that can happen?” She didn’t have an answer, just bringing up the subject made her have anxiety to the degree where she wouldn’t want to talk about it and more importantly she didn’t even know what to say about it.
Living in a small city with not much to do made her life very routine. She would take a few trips into the city now and then to her few trusted little stores or to see me but I saw my mom getting more and more fearful with each trip. “I’m not sure I can drive anymore,” she would say to me, “my heart races so fast when I’m behind the wheel, my chest feels tight, I sometimes even begin to tremble and all of my muscles are so tense by the time I reach your place I’m a mess!”
After too many years of watching her live this way and really seeing her miserable most of the time, I finally decided to mention Barry Joe McDonagh’s Panic Away program to her. I really believe that this was the ticket for my mom to be released from this prison of fear!
Now after 6 months my mom has made major improvements in her driving. After adopting the one move technique from the Panic Away program my mom feels much more confident behind the wheel! It has taught her to be more relaxed and she’s even ventured to a new mall on the other side of the city!
My wish for my mom is that one day she can say she’s FEARLESS!
