Well, we were on a season break. We sharing with you some bonus shores from an old episode. Normally we create one short for each episode. For this break, we focus in on one episode in particular, which is episode 72. Rewiring the brain understanding and overcoming driving anxiety with Joshua Fletcher. And we've clipped this into several small shorts, all around five minutes each. This episode is probably the episode that we share the most with those of you who gets in touch and are asking for help. So, if you have driving anxiety, there's probably something for you in one of these shores.

And uh, for me, that's how I did it. Just practicing again, just. I'm going to some severe anxiety to literally just sitting behind the wheel, not even turning the car on, just sitting there and letting the amygdala kick off, letting all the scary what ifs and the palpitations and the feelings of unease be there and when, and it always calms. It doesn't last forever. Your body can't produce that amount of adrenaline. Let it hit me. Don't respond, no safety behaviors, and then go again. And the next I drive down my street like, whoa. Okay. And then I go into another street and the brain starts to rewire itself again. Um, don't get me wrong, it's tricky. Sometimes you'll make mistakes and do some safety behaviors. Like I did. I went back on the motorway again, and then I was like, oh no, I need to go on her shoulder. And then I was like, no, try again. You know, and stuff like that. But yeah, in general, in a nutshell, that's kind of how I challenged the, the phobic side of driving the claustrophobic, the agoraphobic side.

I like that little tip there about the fact that it won't last forever. The adrenal gland can't keep producing adrenaline. It needs to recharge, it needs to, it, it will fire off as much as it can, and then it needs to reload almost so it, it has to stop at some point.

Definitely. And also the bonus is it will always stop, but when it stops and you and the brain sees the threat response, sees that you've not changed your behavior, then the brain rewires too. So the amygdala literally rewires itself. It's called exposure therapy and it works, you know, the, it works for most things. You know, if you. Your first day at work, you're probably really nervous. Two weeks late, you're not because the, you've not left work. The ammas just rewired itself. Yeah. A job interview your first five, 10 minutes, you're petrified. By the end of it, you feel quite good cuz the has rewired itself, driving itself. When you first pass your driving test and you, and you've got natural driving anxiety cuz you, it's all new and you're on your own. The amygdala's gonna rewire itself because then you practice driving and then, you know, I, I invite clients to say, was the last big journey that you did? And they're like, oh yeah. I mean, I've done journeys in my life where I've not even remember driving. I've been listening to the radio and stuff. I don't remember changing gears. I don't remember doing any of that because the amygdala isn't activated. However, when it is activated, it feels like, you know, he is trying to look after you and. That's what's really important. It's our behavior in that, in that situation and a little bit at a time. It was for me anyway.

It's very interesting because again, when we have people that are anxious, And you know, it is the first feeling of, okay, well let's just sit you behind a wheel, very similar to what you've, you've done there. And then just, you know, what is it they're feeling? And some of them, it is quite a strong feeling because it's a steering wheel in front of them. They've got the controls in front of them, even though the engine's not on, and the keys aren't the ignition. But just that thought of, I'm sitting behind a steering wheel. Can just bring those emotions, um, back out again. And it's, it's really interesting you're saying that you've gone through it and it's like, you know, just little baby steps that are gonna rewire that link to say it's okay.

Absolutely. I've been there. I've, I've, I've done it. It is scary. But you've gotta remember is that anxiety's not the enemy. It's just been widened into a way where it's trying to help you. It now thinks that the steering wheel is dangerous, and what you are doing is you are showing the brain that this is no longer dangerous. But to do that, you have to sit through the threat response. So I talk about the amygdala before, which is the conductor of that threat response. It's the sole reason why you feel anxious, and the only way that can rewire itself is when you are scared. This is really important. You have to be scared for it to rewire. So, because it's imagine like a oyster and a pearl, you know, and stuff like that. Like it has to open up, nor for you to, to get it, it, it will remain closed. This is why a lot of people, um, fail with like kind of quick hacks and shortcuts and stuff. It's like, well, the amygdala's not gonna rewire itself so you can, you know, stand on your red and align your, and mantras and all these things, and take all the supplements in the world, but that's, that's not gonna rewire your amygdala, you know, and you don't do it. Whereas what you guys are doing and sitting with people and sitting in front of the wheel first step, yes. That is literally opening the amygdala prime for rewiring. And when that person doesn't leave the car and they start to feel a bit calm again, they've rewired their brain. Yeah, and they call it gradual exposure, you know? A little bit at a time. You ask them how more, how confident are you now at sitting behind the wheel and not going anywhere? Actually, yeah, I'm just pretty bored now. Okay. Then let's take the next step. You know, and take the next step. But yeah, this, you have to be scared. The biggest, as an anxiety expert, the biggest misunderstanding is that people think that when they're anxious, that's the failure. It's like, no, that's step one. Like that's how you rewire your brain. So, oh no, I'm anxious again. Good. Carry on. Cuz that's what we have to do. If you're like, oh no, I'm anxious again, I'm gonna failure, and then you ain't gonna rewire your brain.

I love that. Yeah. That's just so important, isn't it? Because how many people are trying to overcome their driving anxiety by continuing to avoid, you know, not being willing to make a change?