I am a 46-year-old woman. (Whether or not my gender matters in this case, I thought I’d mention it.) Seven weeks ago I started to learn to drive and have driven for about 20 hours, total. I’ve had lessons from an instructor (in a dual control car). Then, knowing that if I did somrething wrong or dangerous, he was there with back-up controls, I felt OK. Since my lessons, I’ve been practicing with one or other of my sisters, in their car. The problem now is that I get extremely (but extremely) nervous while on the road, to the extent that I break out in a sweat. I dare not drive at more than 35 m.p.h. My sisters say I must drive faster. I say I’m not ready. Yesterday I managed to damage the car by driving into a road barrier (while moving slowly, trying to do a U-turn). It happened because I was nervous and accelerated too much, so I can say I lost control. I can tell myself a hundred times “don’t be nervous” but this makes no difference to my actual feelings.
How can I begin to feel less nervous?