You're listening to the Driving Confidence podcast for drivers who want to be calm and confident on the road. We will be sharing tips, stories and advice to beat driving nerves and anxiety and build your driving confidence. Whether you are just starting out as a learner or have had your driving license for years, if you want to transform how you feel about driving, this podcast is for you. During the season break, we've brought out a bonus short from an earlier episode. This one is from episode 46, Christmas and driving anxiety. So in today's episode, we want to talk about stress. and Christmas,and driving. And how all of them are, Mixed together really, so we thought we would give it. Uh, go on the podcast and. See, if we can help you with your driving over this festive period. Yeah. So It's not the most cheerful, festive subject really? Is it? Well, we're talking about the stresses of Christmas. So sorry about that. But, you can be a very stressful time on it. There's lots going on. We've got. Potentially part is to go to presents, to go and buy shopping to get. You know, there is lots going on in life at this time of year. Yeah. And everybody seems to be in a rush. There never seems to be enough time. There's a lot of pressure at this time of year. Yeah. And it doesn't seem to be enough time to be able to do everything. And then you get a phone call and. Plans change so we can create a more panic and rush and anxiety and stress and everything else that goes on with that. So what we've tried to do is thought how do people. Drive at this time of year and it normally does change. Yeah. Um, part of this was, we were asked for some hints and tips by a journalist for. Christmas day, driving dilemma as well. And that got us thinking about some of the things that can go wrong. Over this festive period. So one of the things that we thought about is when people are driving. are, They actually thinking about their driving or are they. Somewhere else. Yeah, definitely. We know from some of the people who've contacted us When we get into asking questions and we get into the nitty gritty of when did your drive and anxiety start, what was going on in your life? And often one of the things that that comes out is that they would drive in at a particularly stressful time in their life. And that then led on. To an element of either having a panic attack or feeling anxiety. While drive him. And. One of the things that happens here, but this, this happens particularly for people who, who are normally quite confident driving. And so when they're driving, they have that ability to go into a type of autopilot almost where they don't have to think too carefully about changing gears on. Uh, this, that the mechanics, the nuts and bolts of driving. So they're able to do lots of those driving tasks. On and you know, there is so automatic for them. They don't need to put that much thought in it. The problem with that is that then leave space in your mind and in your thoughts to think about all the really stressful things that are going on in your life. So whether that's Christmas, whether that's, personal circumstances, work circumstances, and when you're thinking about really stressful things in your life, your body starts to respond to that and react to that. And so having that space to think about those things while driving, can result in panic attacks, feelings of anxiety that you then associate with driving, forgetting that it was actually thinking about stressful things that triggered it in the first place. You know, we, our minds go off thinking about. Other things. Rather than driving cars, we've driven to Tescos. They. The other supermarkets available, but we've driven to those supermarkets before, and we don't really think about it. But because we are stressed because we're starting now to think of other things, what am I going to get? Are those shops? What do I need, when do we who's coming round. I was, even as I'm talking, I'm my words. Okay. In all. Because I'm not talking to them. I actually started stressful. So what you've got to do is try and think about the task in hand and how come we as drivers bring ourselves back into the now. Yeah, very definitely. So rather than being lost in thought, particularly if those thoughts are stressful, focusing on your driving. And if you're stressed, when you start your journey and then other stress drivers. Do you silly things, maybe they're not concentrating. Maybe they get too close to you. Maybe they pull out in front of you. thats all Added stress, which just snowballs. And. If you're aware that when you sit in the car, you're ready to go. And you notice how stressed you're feeling. Even if you're running late, it's really worth just taking a moment. To take a few slow gentle breaths. To help calm your body down. Um, not only will it calm your body down, but it'll also help bring you back into the moment, ready to pay attention to your driving.