By Carol Solomon, PhD, Certified EFT Practitioner
“Sara” did not learn to drive until she was 22-years-old.
She only learned then because she was pregnant with her first child, and she knew she would be stuck at home if she didn’t learn to drive.
Because she didn’t learn in adolescence, Sara was very anxious right from the beginning, and has never been a confident driver. Certain weather conditions would cause her anxiety to increase. She would avoid driving in rain or snow.
Driving in unfamiliar territory would also increase her anxiety. When she had to drive in these conditions, Sara would feel queasy and sick to her stomach. Her heart would race, and she would breathe hard or hold her breath. She would feel shaky and tense.
In Sara’s past was an incident where she had attended a conference, which was held on a mountain top in upstate New York.
On the way to the conference center, it began to snow and sleet. She was anxious, but doing OK until she got almost to the top of the mountain, and there was a car that was stopped ahead of her. There was no way to get around it. She had to stop, and her car slid back against a guard rail. The car above her slid back into her car, and they were stuck on the mountain for a couple of hours.
She was even more afraid to drive following this incident.
Sara’s driving anxiety came to a head when she and her husband purchased a summer home, located on a mountain in Vermont. The road to their new home was dirt packed and full of twists and turns, with no guard rails. Sara was particularly scared that if she slid off the road, there would be nothing to stop her from rolling down the mountain. She was anxious, even as a passenger, on that road.
She could not avoid it. She was moving to Vermont for the summer with her husband, and she had to drive. On the night before the trip, she had nightmares of going off the side of the road.
Sara was panic stricken. Since she had learned EFT in my weight loss teleclass, she announced to her husband that she was going to stop and tap before she drove up the mountain.
Here are the EFT Setup Statements she used:
Even though I am very afraid to drive on this mountain road, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.
Afraid to drive
Afraid of this road
Afraid to drive this mountain road
Feel sick to my stomach
Feeling shaky
Feeling shaky
I’ll be ok
I’ll be safe
Even though I feel sick to my stomach and I feel shaky, I know I can be calm and drive well, as I deeply and completely accept myself.
I am calm
I am calm
I will drive well
I’ll be OK
I feel confident
I feel confident
I will drive well
I feel calm
Sara drove confidently up the mountain. “I wasn’t holding my breath. I wasn’t breathing hard. I was not shaking. I was fine. I felt victorious as I pulled into the driveway!”
She continued to use EFT several times when she was going up or coming down the mountain. It’s been 7 months since she conquered her 40-year driving anxiety.
“Now I drive that mountain like I own it!”
