Driving!

A large part of the reason why I haven't been feeling up to posting much lately has been because I have been very stressed out about something... My driving test! I started driving on my 17th birthday, June 17th last year, and finally decided a few weeks ago with my instructor that I was ready to do my test, which I did on Monday 2nd March.

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen quite a few tweets lately talking about how stressed out I was for the test and after receiving loads of comments telling me to chill out and not let the stress affect my performance, I had basically convinced myself I was going to fail before I even got in the car because of how stressed I was!

In fact, within a few minutes of the test starting, I nudged the kerb slightly, which I had always been told was an instant fail, so I apologised immediately and decided to carry on the test trying my hardest to see what minors I got, so that I knew what areas to focus on for the next time I had to do the test.

However, I'm not sure if it was because it was only a tiny nudge or if it was because I obviously acknowledged that it was a mistake and drove correctly the rest of the time, but somehow....

I PASSED!! And with only 4 minors as well!

I can honestly say that I was not expecting to pass at all and it was a huge surprise - and relief - for me that I did! I had avoided telling people that my test was coming up due to not wanting to have to admit when I failed but somehow I managed it, which built up my confidence about my driving skills a bit!

Even though it has only been a few days since I passed my test, I was insured within minutes of passing so I got out on the road by myself very early on.

I'm glad I decided to start driving independently very quickly because most people say that that is the hardest part about driving your test - getting out on your own for the first time!

However, it's taking me a little while to get used to my car, which I drove very few times during my time as a provisional driver, so it has actually knocked my confidence in my driving abilities quite a lot sadly! I tried driving to school and back yesterday and whilst yes I did it without too many hitches, it was a real shock to the system for me and in general left me feeling very scared and anxious about driving.

I think I'm going to have to spend a bit of time on quiet roads getting used to my car a bit more and getting some more practice in before I try driving to school on dual carriageways and major roundabouts again - the last thing that I want is to be worrying about what could happen whilst I'm driving, rather than concentrating on what actually is happening!

So yeah, I just wanted to write this post to let you all know about this major event for me and to anyone who is learning to drive/is a new driver, have you ever experienced these anxieties about driving? Is what I'm feeling normal? I would really appreciate it if you let me know!