In today's episode, we're delighted to welcome on Steve, who has been working with Kev in particular to build his driving confidence. So welcome, Steve. Thank you for coming along to this episode.

Hi, thanks for having me on.

Hi, Steve. Nice to see you again.

Hiya.

So, Steve, all I'm going to ask is, people that are listening to this, tell me sort of like the rough outline of just why you contacted us really. Yeah, and what was going on for you with your driving before you got in touch with us?

Yeah. So, I mean, I can go quite, quite far back when, start of my driving journey, I suppose, which was, You know, I started learning to drive as most people do when they're 17, it's pretty excited to get on with it, had. Not a great experience as my instructor at the time knocked my confidence quite a lot and essentially I just gave up Thought maybe this isn't for me and just left it there Yeah, fast forward about 20 years later With a baby on the way and you know realization that it's probably about time I got on with doing this yeah, I did decide to get on with it. I learned to drive. I passed. I was quite happy with with how it went. Didn't get a car initially. and in that time, kind of sat there. you know, the sort of. The fears that I maybe had previously started coming back, the anxieties I'd had previously started coming back, and I just kind of allowed them to spiral out of control really, where it got to the point where even getting in the car to drive, you know, out of the driveway was quite a daunting prospect that I had to really psych myself up for. so, yeah, that's kind of where I was at. And then I, yeah, came across you guys online and got in touch.

Brilliant. And I think it is great that you're able to share that and willing to share that with listeners, because I do think it's so easy to let things spiral quite quickly. And. And that is, our brain is all about safety, isn't it? And so your brain was intent on putting all these, you hadn't had the opportunity to practice driving very much for the first few months. And so it built up in your mind into a really, a real negative spiral, hadn't it?

yeah, absolutely. And, you know, when, when I learned to drive, it was very kind of, well, obviously it was, you know, in the local area, but it was all very sort of slow 20 mile an hour roads. And then, you know, which I thought was great at the time. So I was like, oh, this is kind of, you know, this kind of makes it easy, doesn't it? But then afterwards I sort of realized, oh, I haven't been on, like, yeah, You know, a dual carriageway or a motorway, so then that thought became really terrifying actually to the point where, you know, I would, I just wouldn't want to do it. I could, I could probably go out for a drive locally if I really had to, but I wouldn't, wouldn't even, wouldn't even contemplate the idea of going on, um, yeah, going on the motorway.

Yeah, because you'd never experienced it. And it's fear of the unknown, isn't it? And I remember when you first got in touch, one of the things you were very self aware, which was fantastic, because that did a lot of the work for us almost, because you were really aware of how, how you, what of your thinking patterns and what it was that you were thinking, and what it was that was holding you back. And also you did nip it in the bud quite quickly, didn't you? So. It was only a few months that this went on for before you sought help, and I think that was probably quite. Because it, you hadn't let it build up over years and years and years, like some people do. So then you got to work with Kev.

I did. Yeah.

I spent the day with Steve, and it really was about getting back the confidence and building up to drive on faster roads and hopefully gaining the confidence on those faster roads. So Steve, just quickly tell people what you thought of the day. What did you do? What did we do? Don't mention the pub.

It was, no, it was great. I mean, you know, we took it very slowly. I think I, you know, I was, I was pretty nervous about it, but I was also very eager to get it, to get it done, really. So, yeah, you know, we took it very slowly. I immediately felt comfortable when we got in the car. Beforehand, I'd been viewing it as almost like a driving lesson or a driving test. You know, I was like, it's going to be, it's going to be judging me and everything that I do. I very quickly realized that was not the case. and yeah, it became. You know, yeah, pretty comfortable and just got more and more comfortable and confident as the day went on. Really? And yeah, as you say, you just said, let's just drive somewhere you want to go to start with. You know, just drive around and then I think we did that for 20 minutes or so and then pulled up and you're like, right, where do you want to go? And then we just sort of took it from there. And yeah, you know, before, before I knew it, I was driving on the A3 and the M25. And I think, I think I turned around to you at one point and said, Oh, actually, this is better than driving on the local roads. It's much more fun.

Thank you for listening. Find out about the different ways that you can work with us on our website, www.confidentdrivers.co.uk, and begin to transform the way you feel about driving.