you know when all you lovely people give advice...

Snaggles

Hiya Pap, big hugs to you xxx

You've booked your test and suddenly you're losing confidence, making mistakes (although it sounds as though a lot of what happened today wasn't your mistake), getting disheartened.......honestly this is all completely normal, it's just nerves. Look on the bright side - at least it happened on a lesson, not on the test itself.

You're so close now, don't give up. Think of how you felt yesterday when you rose above the petty nastiness of your colleagues. Try and hold on to that feeling, hold your head up high, and remember you can rise above this too.

daphne_descends

Maybe your instructor just knows that despite what you might think at the time, you will get through that lesson. Your confidence will grow with driving where you will feel safe and not let things/people intimidate you. You're certainly not useless.

I don't speak from experience, I am 26 and never made the effort to learn to drive, and now I'm having a baby, I always said I'd learn to drive FIRST :rolleyes: So you are doing better than me! It's a big committment I think, driving lessons are so expensive. When I was 17 my mum offered to pay half of lessons for me, I worked part time, and I said no, thinking I had other things to spend my money on - how stupid was I.

So I think sticking with lessons and keeping going week after week when you feel as you do, takes guts. You will pass your test, and THAT must be such a huge boost... you gotta take the rough with the smooth, and come through the other side - which you will!

postingalwaysposting

etxec wrote: »

Out of interest have you considered changing your driving instructor? I failed my first two tests and I think not really getting on with mine might have contributed. I had a little break and then started again with someone else and it was much easier.

From another lurker :-)

thanks etxec... hes my 5th... first of all he was the one i felt more at ease with but it seems now (in the last month or so) he finds it funny to rip me appart, i mean he says i dont check my mirrors ~ what so every 9 seconds isnt enough... what does he want me to do get another set of eyes! i never think i am going to learn :rolleyes:

CAFCGirl

We'll have none of that...or I'll send CAFCGirl round with her negative thought eraser...and you wouldn't want that... :eek:

I'm worried about the EEK! face when my name was mentionned. I dont look that bad in the mornings honestly...:rolleyes:

Repeat after me Pap

i am good

and once more, with feeling

Snaggles

ps I have had my driving license for...um....15 years (second time today that I feel really old ) and I still !!!! up all the time.......shhhh, don't tell anyone though!

ZTD

postingalwaysposting wrote: »

thanks etxec... hes my 5th... first of all he was the one i felt more at ease with but it seems now (in the last month or so) he finds it funny to rip me appart, i mean he says i dont check my mirrors ~ what so every 9 seconds isnt enough... what does he want me to do get another set of eyes! i never think i am going to learn :rolleyes:

He's preparing you for your test. Whe you drive, to be honest you don't use your mirrors that often - they show you what's behind, and you're travelling forwards. I use mine most often to check for fuzz.

But driving TEST examiners get all thrilled and excited if you're constantly checking them. That's why you should constantly check them. Once you've passed, then you can use them sensibly - but until then...

etxec

postingalwaysposting wrote: »

thanks etxec... hes my 5th... first of all he was the one i felt more at ease with but it seems now (in the last month or so) he finds it funny to rip me appart, i mean he says i dont check my mirrors ~ what so every 9 seconds isnt enough... what does he want me to do get another set of eyes! i never think i am going to learn :rolleyes:

Heavens! Sorry - I haven't read the whole thread.

It's really hard to get into the habit of checking everything you're meant to be checking without conciously thinking about it and until you do it is really stressful, especially if your instructor is making unhelpful comments. But it will happen, it just takes time and perseverance. So hang in there and all will come good.

postingalwaysposting

thanks all i still think it will be easier to give up... i am pushing 80 lessons now and whats the point if when i then come to drive a car i wont know where to start

ztd it was a crossing, i knew it was there (its on my way home) but there was a bus on the busstop before it so i was trying to deal with that then wham bam crossing and the man just walked straight out... missed by inches

fac yes i will get tehre but when in another 80? lessons another 3k? another life nearly taken? another speeding ticket? i just dont think its worth it... yes i put myself through every lesson but i am not doing this for me... no i am doing it to prove those instuctors wrong and to prove all the idots that say i am no good at driving (the ones i see everyday) i dont want to learn to rdrive i am happy with buses its the same way i feel i need to do my gcse again to prove them all wrong... is this what my life is about? proving people wrong who think i am useless and stupid? why?!

CAFCGirl

Its not about prooving other people wrong hun, it's about prooving that you were right all along.

All fo these things are for you. The GCSE obviously weighs on your mind an awful lot, so you're doing what you need to do to clear that out of your mind. Then WHEN not IF you've done that, you wont hear the negatives anymore.

Think of it as a self protection act.....in some respects

As for driving, you're doing it to give yourself a boost, it obviously means a lot to you to have your license, and think of it this way, it could take you another 80 lessons, it could also take you another 5 lessons. So weigh it up pros and cons.

If you knew for definite that you would pass with 5 more lessons, would you doubt yourself.

Like someone has in their signature, what would you attempt to do if you knew you couldn't fail!

peb

Right missus - you do not have to prove anything to anyone! Stop fretting - you do not have maths GCSE (A/C) you have loads of other ones and higher qualifications - LET GO.

Driving - some people struggle, some don't - but beating yourself up about it will not help. If you are checking your mirrors ensure that they are at an angle whereby you can be seen to be checking them - an old trick but it works. (well it did when I passed my test!)

PS - we all know you are neither useless or stupid - just indoctrinated!

PPS - if the GCSE is that important to you then do it - we can have a group attempt (I have 3 passes at D)