You are probably already being mindful while driving without even realising it! It is a skill we all have and use every day without realising. Choosing to use mindfulness to reduce driving anxiety and mentally prepare for your driving test means that you are strengthening the skills you already have and using them to your advantage.
Mindfulness is simply noticing what is happening around you, right now, on purpose and with curiosity
While driving you will be giving your full attention to what you are doing in order to drive the car, paying close attention to other road users and if you are learning you will also be listening to your driving instructor. By being more aware of the theory of mindfulness and consciously adding mindfulness exercises to your driving you could develop and strengthen your attention skills while driving, which in turn will help you feel more confident in your driving ability. Mindfulness can help you notice and manage any unhelpful thinking habits that you have and be more aware of how your mood and emotions might impact your driving lessons and your future driving. Driving anxiety is often created by a fear of what might happen in the future so concentrating on what is happening right now with mindfulness interrupts feelings of anxiety.
The benefits of daily mindfulness practice include:
* being able to focus your attention more easily where you choose
* being able to interrupt automatic pilot and avoid getting lost in an inner world of thoughts
* gaining more perspective on the events that happen during everyday life
* reduce stress levels
* reduce driving anxiety and nerves
* mentally preparing for your driving test
* become more self-aware of your thoughts and emotions and how they might impact your driving behaviour
Being mindful doesn't have to involve meditation although it can if you like. A learner drivers subscription includes our unique six-week mindfulness course as well as a range of other stress management solutions. All the suggested mindfulness exercises in the six-week course are short practical tasks that last from 20 seconds to 4 minutes. They can easily be fitted in around your life and several of the exercises you can carry out whenever you are in a car as a driver or passenger, for example, while putting on your seatbelt, getting into the driver seat or passenger seat and filling up with fuel. Focusing on actions in the present moment instead of worrying about what might happen is the main way that mindfulness reduces driving anxiety.
Driver behaviour is the biggest contributing factor in 95% of road incidents and driver behavioural issues might include thrill-seeking, frustration, outside pressures, distraction and anxiety. Recognising and understanding how your personality, thoughts, emotions, values, beliefs and perceptions about other road users might impact your own driver behaviour can help you to be more self-aware and allow you to modify your behaviour and become a safer driver.
Mindfulness helps you to recognise the thoughts and physical feelings that accompany different moods and situations and this self-awareness helps us to learn to control both our minds and our actions. Mindfulness is now recommended by the NHS to reduce stress and anxiety in everyday life. The good news is that practising mindfulness can help you mentally prepare for your driving test and at the same time reduce driving anxiety and nerves. It will also positively impact other areas of your life.
Our subscription plans include the six-week mindfulness course and you can find out more about the other stress management solutions included in the subscription to help learner drivers improve their confidence. We also offer group plans for driving instructors supporting nervous pupils.
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If you have a driving test coming up soon you might find our Ultimate Guide to Driving Test Nerves useful.
We created this podcast for drivers who want to be calm and confident on the road. Whether you are a learner driver, a new driver or have been driving for years, this podcast will help you to beat driving nerves and anxiety and build your driving confidence.
Co-hosted by Kev & Tracey Field, each Driving Confidence podcast episode offers bite-sized information and ideas that are both relatable and achievable to help you manage your driving nerves or anxiety and transform how you feel about driving.
Read more of our reviews from happy learner drivers on Trustpilot
It's great to have a website offering fantastic techniques to assist with the challenges of driving. The website recognises the fact that learning to drive can be stressful and there are strategies to help with this. The website's name, 'CONFIDENT Drivers' is what a learner is aspiring to be, so it's very positive. The techniques also apply to building general confidence in all walks of life, so useful again. Thank you!
I was so pleased when my instructor signed me up for Confident Driver. I loved the hypnosis sessions & I recently passed first time with one fault. Recommend 100%
Confident drivers has been a really useful tool in changing my attitude to the driving test. I hadn't recognised just how much my negative thoughts about my ability rather than my actual driving ability have been holding me back and putting me off. I particularly liked the quick fix section that gives you strategies to calm down just before the test!
If you would like some self-help stress management resources to help you tackle your driving anxiety and improve driving confidence then our calming kit is created by leading industry experts especially for you. Access to all the resources is online.
These plans are created specifically for drivers and learner drivers looking for online solutions to manage driving nerves and anxiety. We also have a range of group plans created for driving instructors who would like to offer support offroad to their learner drivers, you can find more details on our ADI page.
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Take a browse around our blog for articles written to help learner drivers and driving instructors recognise the most common reasons for experiencing driving nerves and confidence issues. Each article offers strategies and suggestions that may help you.
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