On a Tuesday and Thursday I get a taxi to school, it's a taxi conpanie that takes children to school. But every time I take a taxi, because it's a car im not uesd to and a person that I do not know so there for do not trust them, so when they are going at the same speed my mum goes at when she drops me of every other day it seems alot faster and it scares me. I am to shy to say something to the taxi driver and I have toled my mum how I feel but she hasnt done anything. the reason I get a taxi to school is because my mum has M.E an so do I, so she is really tired becase she is looking after me all of the time so I ge a taxi to shcool so that she can have a rest, I have to take a taxi today, do I pretend to be ill and not go to school so there for not taking a taxi but making my mum more tired or do I go to school but be really scared in the taxi? what do I do?
Sam
Hello,
When were feeling anxious, we can worry about different things. We often want to avoid situations we're not used to. But sometimes thats not possible. Avoiding things doesnt usually make the anxiety go away, and sometimes it can make the anxiety grow.
Usually its better to find ways to cope with your anxiety so you can get on with day to day things without it affecting everything else. Im wondering if there are things you can do to manage your anxiety to help you get through the taxi ride to school.
Perhaps you can come up with a taxi plan. This could be a set of ideas for what you will do before the taxi ride and during the ride. For example, before the taxi arrives, you might want to do some relaxation breathing. You also could do that during the taxi ride, if you think it might be helpful.
Another idea is to figure out how you might distract yourself during the ride. Maybe bring along something like a puzzle or a pad for doodling or drawing. Another idea is to look out the window, but do something like count backwards in your head. All of these ideas are about distracting your mind from anxious thoughts.
Finally, as part of your plan, you may want to keep a diary record (on a piece of paper or on your phone) of the date of each taxi ride youve taken and what happened. It sounds like at the end of each ride you arrived at school safely, but you can keep track of that. Sometimes its really helpful to remind yourself when things have worked out okay in the past, so that some of your worries can lessen over time.
Im sure you can be creative and come up with your own, personal plan and it may be that talking to one of our counsellors the day before a taxi ride might give you some extra support.
Take care, Sam
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