#driving-

i just had to drive my car back to the shop because the problem it was having wasn't fixed. i met up with my dad halfway there and i sweaR he makes me the worst most anxious driver and he gets so easily frustrated with my driving even though i wasn't even making any mistakes or anything and he causes me to make mistakes because he gets agitated and starts going "don't you see that? how do you not see that?" or "no no no, you're going to hit the curb, oh my god!!! what are you doing!" and so on and so forth and it just winds me up so much that i start driving worse than i actually can, and then he gets mad about it, and it's like. what. at the gas station i was pulling out and there was a car next to me and he literally called me to be like "you're going to hit the curb!!! no no no, turn your wheel to the left!" and it's like wow, i'd rather hit the curb than another car??? when we got to the shop i parked my car FINE in a spot a little off to the side and dad was like "you should have parked it behind this other car here" so he had me pull out and re-park behind this stupid car, and it took me like six fucking tries to park because there was a tire in the way and he kept getting exasperated with me and being like "where are you going! what are you doing!" to the point where i moved the driver seat back and got out and was like "can you park the car please" and he was like "no, i want you to do it. i know how to do it, you don't know how to do it." i DO know how to fucking park my car, i park just fine all the time, i just can't do it right when someone is staring at me and putting me on the spot??? anyway, so then i got back in my car and made a loop around and parked in the stupid spot but at this point i was really anxious and i ended up almost taking the left side mirror off the car to the right of me (I DIDN'T THOUGH, only almost), and the owner of the car came out and was like WHOA WHOA WHOA, and my dad literally like. put his hand over his eyes and gave me this look and walked away, and i had to pull out and park again and apologize to this guy, and it was so fucking humiliating because i can drive better than that, unless someone is pointing out all my little flaws and making me anxious. so i got in my dad's car so he could take me home after leaving my car, and he was like "you almost took that guy's mirror off" and i was like "i know" and he was like "i mean you parked so terribly, did you not see where you were going or what" and i was like "i can't frickin drive with someone staring at me making me anxious, what do you even expect from me as a new driver" and oh my god i just 

good job!!! i’m so proud of you! you said it was a new car, right—how do you feel about it? by the way it’s ok if you’re not super comfortable driving it now, i think with practice you will feel more relaxed. and tbh, this sounds counterintuitive, but my level of comfort with driving went up a TON when i was finally able to drive by myself; so if you’re nervous when you’re driving with someone to practice, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re gonna feel that way about it when you’re on the road by yourself in a real situation—which i wish someone would have told me about or something, ‘cause i totally expected it to be the other way around!