susangayle1965
01-16-2016, 05:34 PM
I am a 51 year old woman and I have dealt with anxiety my entire life. I can remember being scared and crying in Kindergarten because I didn't want to be there. I was painfully shy and I couldn't understand why all the other kids seemed so happy and carefree. Didn't they know school was a scary place? Sadly this has continued through my entire life, although sometimes I have felt almost normal, or what my idea of normal is. The last 15 years I have had some mild anxiety while driving, which gets worse in the winter when there is ice and snow. A few months ago a car ran through a stop sign and hit me and totaled my car. I didn't get hurt, but since then my anxiety when driving has gotten much worse and I dread it. I work about 23 miles from home so not driving is not an option. When it rains I am more anxious and now with winter and snow and ice I am starting to panic whenever we have a chance of snow. I am sure I am going to slide and wreck my car or someone will slide into me. A couple of weeks ago I told my husband how anxious I was and he drove me to work a couple of days. He works at night so this cuts into his sleeping time. This week it is supposed to snow and I am already feeling like I will panic if I have to drive in it. I know this doesn't make sense because I have been driving since I was 16 and have driven to work in snow for years. I have never liked it, but now it is all I can think about. I feel like I am a coward and I avoid planning on going anywhere if I think the weather might be bad. I hope talking to other people with anxiety will help me.