[annabellacat]

I've been trying to learn how to drive,pretty late about it. It's my way of "going back in time" and doing what i should've done when i was 17. I had trouble with driver's ed but DID pass back then and had the learner's permit but driving was hard for me and i had a boyfriend who drove us everywhere and so i didn't see a point in getting it(the actual liscense). I've been doing mini driving lessons,funny enough it's that bf who is teaching me ,but I feel impatient. My goal was to master parking lots before the month is over. So far,it's actually been easier then i thought it would be. It feels natural and easy but i'm still only in the parking lot. I shouldn't even be trying to think of busy streets or passing the written test yet but i just feel crazy ambitious about getting a lot done and bettering myself. I figure another lesson or two and i'll be done with parking lots so really i'm going right on schedule of my deadline because this week i'm sure i'll get at least 1-2 lessons in. Part of me feels stupid i'm feeling accomplishment for a parking lot,but with how long it's been since driver's ed,i literally do need to start from scratch. And,of course,somehow this month seems to be flying by. I AM meeting my goals,though. Am i going at an ok rate? The driving lessons i'm doing now are only a few minutes each time and i've only done a few. I know once i get to side streets(my goal is to start that in Feb if i pass this month's goal),i'll obviously need to make the lessons longer but i figure the parking lot lessons are more just to get me comfortable behind the wheel again and reacquainted. Life got so hard for months,and it's been a lot of pain. Achieving my goals is solace but i just also feel so impatient. I also now want to learn to ride a bike. These two are my agoraphobia related goals. The bike goal will have it's own challenges and I haven't yet mapped out a plan on how i'll tackle that. If I had my liscense,even just have to have it will be a big sense of accomplishment for me and being able to be confident enough to ride a bike would bring me so much freedom. I'm really excited for these little goals but get nervous and have doubts about them,too.

[healingme4me]

I passed my first test. I had two permits because my parents said they wouldn't add me to their car insurance. So I got my license at 18 before headed to college.

Sent from my LGMS323 using Tapatalk

[Sabrina]

Went for one lesson with my mother when I was 16 or 17 (need to be 18 for a license in South Africa). My mother screamed at me when I stalled the car. (Not because I stalled, but because the car was really old and crotchety). I never drove again.

[Fresia]

It is never to late and do what you need to to feel more comfortable. Don't worry about the how long it takes, it is all in good time and it is the experience that counts.

My Dad once drove but after his stroke he had to relearn how to drive. We found that AAA offers a driving lessons that the rates were really reasonable. There may be some other places in your area that are just as reasonable. Perhaps this might help too as you prepare.

Best wishes and good luck with your goals!

[lizardlady]

I took driver's ed in high school. My state now requires it of all high school students. I had my permit for about a year before I got my license. I felt like I needed the extra experience before I drove solo.

I agree with Fresia, take whatever amount of time you need. I would think pushing yourself to relearn how to drive would make your stress level go through the roof. It sure would mine. I know you said you learned to drive when younger, but what about taking a driving course now? There are plenty of folks who go back to learn/re-learn as adults.

As for learning to ride a bike. If you already have a bike, what about riding it as far from your house as you are comfortable, then turning around and coming back home? That could mean 10 feet or 10 miles to start off, whatever you are comfortable with. This is assuming you know how to ride a bike and are working on being able to leave the house to ride it.
If you are talking about learning to ride a bike from scratch, as in never rode one before, I'd start out with a basic bike, no gears, etc. Go to an empty parking lot to practice. You could ask a friend to walk next to you to help with balance at first. Please wear a helmet. You only have one brain. Please protect it.

[Webgoji]

Got my driver's permit at 14 and my full licence at 16. Where I've lived it's really the only way around. Everything is 10 miles or more away and the public transit systems ... well either don't exist or don't go within 10 miles of anywhere you want to go.

[ManOfConstantSorrow]

I passed on the second attempt but failed on the first for 'improper use of the steering'. I am still trying to work out what that means.

[Nammu]

I don't recall how long it took from drivers ed in school to taking test, getting the permit to getting my licence but it couldn't have been long I was still 16. But where I lived, in the subs you needed a car to get anywhere. The school didn't allow students to drive to school unless they had after school jobs so it meant taking the bus home to borrow the car to go meet friends at the malls.

Good job meeting your goals and sticking with it. The Independence is worth it.

[Nihil]

Several months from what I remember. Don't put off studying for the written test (I'm assuming there is a written test). I almost failed that. I did adequately on the actual test. You really just need to be cautious and alert and you'll probably do fine. Study on Google maps with street view, if that would help.

[kindachaotic]

Took drivers Ed in hs & got license at 16. Took test once.
Our teacher put us right out on road, no parking lot.
It was sink/pass or swin/fail. Luckily I did ok.

Live in burbs also, no public transportation.
Drove parents car & blessed they paid insurance.
Got own car after nursing school.

Things just seemed easier then, in the 70's.....

I was 17 and passed my first test. I got about 6 months of practicing from drivers ed and the required hours. I live in a fairly rural area so it was necessary and easy.

[annabellacat]

Originally Posted by Sabrina

Went for one lesson with my mother when I was 16 or 17 (need to be 18 for a license in South Africa). My mother screamed at me when I stalled the car. (Not because I stalled, but because the car was really old and crotchety). I never drove again.

Yeah,the person who has been teaching me yelled at me on my last lesson because i wasn't ready to try reversing the car and my mind like blanked out after that from getting anxiety on what he was trying to say. Just need to keep at it and stay determined. I know i've got this. I think my next lesson is tomorrow. Maybe I'll try reversing tomorrow.

[annabellacat]

Originally Posted by Fresia

It is never to late and do what you need to to feel more comfortable. Don't worry about the how long it takes, it is all in good time and it is the experience that counts.

My Dad once drove but after his stroke he had to relearn how to drive. We found that AAA offers a driving lessons that the rates were really reasonable. There may be some other places in your area that are just as reasonable. Perhaps this might help too as you prepare.

Best wishes and good luck with your goals!

Yeah,the person who is helping me,his dad offered to put me in driving school too so that might be an idea if i have a lot of trouble. So far,to me at least it seems an ok pace i am going at. I also have been saying for some time now "it's never too late to change your life." It's kind of been my mantra.

[annabellacat]

Originally Posted by lizardlady

I took driver's ed in high school. My state now requires it of all high school students. I had my permit for about a year before I got my license. I felt like I needed the extra experience before I drove solo.

I agree with Fresia, take whatever amount of time you need. I would think pushing yourself to relearn how to drive would make your stress level go through the roof. It sure would mine. I know you said you learned to drive when younger, but what about taking a driving course now? There are plenty of folks who go back to learn/re-learn as adults.

As for learning to ride a bike. If you already have a bike, what about riding it as far from your house as you are comfortable, then turning around and coming back home? That could mean 10 feet or 10 miles to start off, whatever you are comfortable with. This is assuming you know how to ride a bike and are working on being able to leave the house to ride it.
If you are talking about learning to ride a bike from scratch, as in never rode one before, I'd start out with a basic bike, no gears, etc. Go to an empty parking lot to practice. You could ask a friend to walk next to you to help with balance at first. Please wear a helmet. You only have one brain. Please protect it.

It normally would make me stressed but with all the pain i've had in the last months and the fear it had created in me,it also created a surge of determination to push myself further. I have two bikes that my roommate said i can have one and he will take me out to ride the bike together first when we start doing that,and then from there i would try to do it alone. I haven't bike rode a bike since a child so it is kind of from scratch. I am nervous though i have no helmet or anything. But,these are all going to be things that get done in steps. I may wait until next month to try even doing any bike related goals. Plus,it's very cold where i'm at right now. I think if me and my roommate just go to together for a few times,him showing me until i am used to the bike with knowing how to ride it,then from there i can try and go for very short distances alone like even just starting around the block while he is at the apartment waiting for me.

[annabellacat]

Originally Posted by Nammu

I don't recall how long it took from drivers ed in school to taking test, getting the permit to getting my licence but it couldn't have been long I was still 16. But where I lived, in the subs you needed a car to get anywhere. The school didn't allow students to drive to school unless they had after school jobs so it meant taking the bus home to borrow the car to go meet friends at the malls.

Good job meeting your goals and sticking with it. The Independence is worth it.

I am so determined and craving the independence and freedom,you have no idea! Yeah,as an adult after time passed of not knowing how to drive,i didn't believe in myself with getting it,and also felt like i wanted more of a "city life" and a lot of people here don't drive,but of course they know how to. However,considering i fear taking the train,and just all the freedom it would give me period,i want the liscense now. Even just to prove to myself i can have it. I used to feel embarrassed admitting i don't have it. Like,it made me sound too childish and silly. It just feels time. I am not 18 anymore. I used to have a fear will i end up really old one day being a girl who can't drive and needing rides from others everywhere and how it made me feel stupid if that were my reality. Sure,when your young,some things you can kind of get away with more,it just makes you just look overprotected or a little spoiled but a point comes where it just isn't good . I feel like all this is happening to meet desires my heart has had for some time now and break through old barriers.

[annabellacat]

Originally Posted by Nihil

Several months from what I remember. Don't put off studying for the written test (I'm assuming there is a written test). I almost failed that. I did adequately on the actual test. You really just need to be cautious and alert and you'll probably do fine. Study on Google maps with street view, if that would help.

Oh,i know. I'm just as nervous about my ability to pass the written. I'm going to wait until i know how to drive then work on studying the written.

[eskielover]

Your location says Chicago....& this cold time of year there is no time to be outside or learning to drive initially in the snow....that is an added challenge.

For me, I blackmailed my dad into teaching me to drive when I was 13. My parents always liked to take a drive to the California desert on the weekend afternoons & I hated going with them anywhere so I agreed NOT to make a scene & to go with them IF my dad would teach me to drive on the back roads of the desert where there were no other cars. It worked for both of us.

I was determined to get my license on my 16th birthday....my right of passage into freedom. My mother never drove & to be honest, her not driving had a very negative effect on me. It limited the activities I could be involved in because not only did she NOT drive but she had no friends to ask to drive me anywhere either.....I felt trapped in my parents life so I desperately NEEDED & WANTED my freedom & didn't want to depend on anyone else to drive me by that age.

I took drivers ed the summer when I was not quite 15 1/2. LOL...I remember being able to drive the car perfectly, but crashed into everything that came near me in the simulator.....it wasn't REAL. I went & got my license on my birthday. I just passed....not like with flying colors or anything.......I have been driving now for almost 50 years now.....I have always loved to drive....made three 2100 mile drives alone (well, with my dogie) across the country after leaving my H 8 years ago. One trip I drove a mid size moving truck to get some of my things here.

I have learned to drive in the snow when I spent my winter vacations in Jackson Hole Wyo & we get a good amount of snow here where I live each year & there are times when I don't have a choice but to drive in it. I hauled a horse trailer last weekend on an 800 mile trip to Ohio & coming back we hit snow. It was a challenge for I enjoyed it.

I think it was my independent spirit that pushed me so hard to get my license & my desire for my freedom. It does take time to learn how to feel one with the car you are driving. I think my daughter was not quick to want to learn to drive but she was in an accident when she was only 4 so that probably made her desire less to want to drive & I drove unlike my mother so she never had to want for a ride the way I did even though I was working.

I honestly don't remember actually learning to drive.....guess after 50 years....but it always felt so natural to me even thinking back to the very beginning. (oh, & BTW....my mother did end up getting her DL when I was 16 also & no longer cared whether she could drive or not....& LOL....I wasn't about to share the car with her after working so hard to get my freedom)

[lizardlady]

annabellacat, if you learned to ride a bike as a kid, the skills ought to come back pretty easily. Good luck to you on your adventures!

[annabellacat]

Originally Posted by eskielover

Your location says Chicago....& this cold time of year there is no time to be outside or learning to drive initially in the snow....that is an added challenge.

For me, I blackmailed my dad into teaching me to drive when I was 13. My parents always liked to take a drive to the California desert on the weekend afternoons & I hated going with them anywhere so I agreed NOT to make a scene & to go with them IF my dad would teach me to drive on the back roads of the desert where there were no other cars. It worked for both of us.

I was determined to get my license on my 16th birthday....my right of passage into freedom. My mother never drove & to be honest, her not driving had a very negative effect on me. It limited the activities I could be involved in because not only did she NOT drive but she had no friends to ask to drive me anywhere either.....I felt trapped in my parents life so I desperately NEEDED & WANTED my freedom & didn't want to depend on anyone else to drive me by that age.

I took drivers ed the summer when I was not quite 15 1/2. LOL...I remember being able to drive the car perfectly, but crashed into everything that came near me in the simulator.....it wasn't REAL. I went & got my license on my birthday. I just passed....not like with flying colors or anything.......I have been driving now for almost 50 years now.....I have always loved to drive....made three 2100 mile drives alone (well, with my dogie) across the country after leaving my H 8 years ago. One trip I drove a mid size moving truck to get some of my things here.

I have learned to drive in the snow when I spent my winter vacations in Jackson Hole Wyo & we get a good amount of snow here where I live each year & there are times when I don't have a choice but to drive in it. I hauled a horse trailer last weekend on an 800 mile trip to Ohio & coming back we hit snow. It was a challenge for I enjoyed it.

I think it was my independent spirit that pushed me so hard to get my license & my desire for my freedom. It does take time to learn how to feel one with the car you are driving. I think my daughter was not quick to want to learn to drive but she was in an accident when she was only 4 so that probably made her desire less to want to drive & I drove unlike my mother so she never had to want for a ride the way I did even though I was working.

I honestly don't remember actually learning to drive.....guess after 50 years....but it always felt so natural to me even thinking back to the very beginning. (oh, & BTW....my mother did end up getting her DL when I was 16 also & no longer cared whether she could drive or not....& LOL....I wasn't about to share the car with her after working so hard to get my freedom)

No way am i waiting. My mom said the same thing,that i should wait until summer. I think the added challenge of starting in the winter will only make me better. When it clicks in me i want something,i get it. I was feeling the feelings earlier of how amazing it is going to be to accomplish this. I'm glad to hear and see that it's not the most hardest goal in the world,and is actually pretty do-able. I may not even end up using the liscense much,it's just important to me to prove i can get it. i'm even wondering if learning to drive will be easier then i think. Here I am,have been doing these lessons in winter and have been doing ok,i can just imagine how much better it would even be in spring or summer. Even though going through hardships in winter makes them harder,the beautiful thing is,by the time the weather is warmer,and life has gotten easier,and you have overcome,it's only that much sweeter. I have a lot of goals so am impatient to get this done to work on others but am also trying to relax and trust life.

[annabellacat]

Besides,imo,i'm taking the driving goal at a relatively slow pace. My goal was to master parking lots this month and next month,i'd like to tackle side streets.

[annabellacat]

When you are as stuck as i have been with agoraphobia and you are not exactly 18 anymore,it starts to suddenly get scary and you want to hurry up and make changes to become more free.

[Raindropvampire]

I got my license about 2 months after my 16th bday but had been driving since i was about 13-14. My aunts and uncles thought nothing about letting me tool around the back roads where they live lol.

My mom on the other hand didn't get her license until her 33rd birthday. She said that when my uncle tried to teach her to drive when she was younger he screamed at her and cussed at her. So she pulled the car over got out and walked home. took her 17 years before she decided she was ready to try again.

Good luck to you

[annabellacat]

Originally Posted by Raindropvampire

I got my license about 2 months after my 16th bday but had been driving since i was about 13-14. My aunts and uncles thought nothing about letting me tool around the back roads where they live lol.

My mom on the other hand didn't get her license until her 33rd birthday. She said that when my uncle tried to teach her to drive when she was younger he screamed at her and cussed at her. So she pulled the car over got out and walked home. took her 17 years before she decided she was ready to try again.

Good luck to you

It's reassuring i'm not the only one who waited to get their liscense. It's a big deal for me. I thought in the last years it's something i'd just never get. I didn't believe in myself. I love the feeling of breaking through barriers and accomplishing things i thought i'd live my life never achieving. It's thrilling and life affirming

[annabellacat]

Honestly,i am getting kind of impatient and am thinking about getting someone else to help me to speed things along since the one person who is helping me has only been giving me so much time. I wouldn't mind taking my time learning but my ambition has just been through the roof and i have so much free time myself to do it,i feel i'd get this so much quicker if i got an extra person to help. The sooner i can master this,the sooner i can do the bike thing,and start doing other things i want to do to better myself. i feel so stuck but have so much ambition. lol. but little steps,and more and more i'll break through and get more and more freedom.

[Epichelper]

6 TIMES!!!!!
I did get my police driverslicence in 1 try