For some reason I want to tell you all about the scariest night of my life. I don’t know why I feel the need to discuss this today, because I am in a wonderful mood. I don’t know why I even want to talk about it on my blog… nor do I know why I want to travel down that very dark memory lane… Something is telling me that I have to talk about this today though… I just don’t know why.
I think I want your thoughts, opinions, and suggestions.
Maybe it is also because this night is the reason I always wear my seat belt and I always tell people in the car with me to wear theirs too.
Do you wear your seatbelt?
I really want you to comment if you have ever experienced something like this. Sometimes I feel like a huge baby and get embarrassed for freaking out while in the car with someone I don’t really know. Is there anyone out there who struggles with anxiety from a past experience? If so, how do you cope with your feelings? Is there any way that I can ever get over this?
OH my gosh. Wow, that sounds so scary! How lucky that you all survived something like that. I don’t blame you for having anxiety in the car still. I was rear-ended a couple of years ago, and I still get really nervous when I see someone approaching me too quickly in my rearview mirror.
I always, always wear my seatbelt. I am ashamed to say that my bf rarely does…it is something I can nag the heck out of him about, but he just won’t do it. I think next time I drive, I’ll refuse to move the car until he does. He might be able to control himself or trust me when I’m driving, but there are other people on the road and you never know!
You’re very brave for writing about this. And I’m sure there’s a reason you were pushed to today. 🙂
You are very brave to post about your experience. Thankfully, I have never been in this kind of situation, but I do wear my seatbelt. My mom was saved by her’s before I was born. But, my dad did have a terrible snow skiing accident on a business trip and they did not expect him to live. We were so blessed that he did live, but I’ve never been snow skiing and I am too scared to go. I’ve seen what can happen. After my dad’s accient, I was a cheerleader and I stopped tumbling. I’ve seen a head cracked open. I’ve seen the staples, stitches and rehab. The thought of my head and the ground paralyzed me. No one could understand the anxiety I felt. I am glad you survived and you have every right to be scared to be in a car. Never feel that you worry too much because your worry might save a life. Thank you for sharing.
I have never had something as bad as this happen, but I did have a 4-wheeler accident in college. We fell backwards, I landed on my back and rolled over and the 4-wheeler landed on top of me. I was VERY lucky that I was not seriously injured or killed. My head was in between the fender and the tire of the 4-wheeler–with no helmet.
I still have a terrible feeling and get somewhat paniky when I am in a vehicle, golf cart, 4-wheeler, etc and it gets even somewhat vertical. I don’t think it will ever go away.
Thanks for sharing!
p.s. I ALWAYS wear my seatbelt.
OMG! That’s so scary! I think I would freak out too. So glad everyone was ok!!
I wear my seatbelt all the time. I have a family friend who was in a really bad car accident the summer before his senior year. He was not wearing his seatbelt and was told that was a good thing in his situation. If he would have wore his seatbelt, he would have been trapped in the car instead of falling out once it stopped.
So glad you didn’t get hurt! {well badly} 🙂
I was in a roll over accident when I was 14. A driver ran a red light and hit the back passenger door, where I was sitting, the suv flipped once.
My P’s were in the front seat and we had stop to get gas 10 min before the accident and I remember sitting there and said to my mom ‘oh I don’t have my seat belt on’ I put it on and 10 min later we flipped. I would have been killed or seriously hurt without it.
I ALWAYS wear my seat belt now!!! I freak out at people who don’t have there’s on in the car too.
So scary, and I’m so glad you’re ok! I actually just had a car wreck in March because some crazy maniac plowed into my driver’s side and totaled my car. Conveniently, it just so happens to be at an intersection I have to go through every single day. So don’t you know I’m white-knuckling it every time I take that turn, bracing myself for what could come. So I definitely feel your pain, and thank my lucky stars for the Big Guy watching over me (and you) and especially for seatbelts!!!
Sadly, there was a period of time when I was in high school that I did not wear my seat belt. My cousin was involved in a terrible freak car accident in which her seat belt severed her aorta artery and about killed her. Me, being stubborn and stupid, decided to no longer wear my seat belt because of this. The seat belt may have caused a lot of damage to my cousin but she probably would have been killed without it but I was stubborn and naive.
Right after graduation from high school I flipped my Firebird. The t-tops were out, windows down and I was not wearing my seat belt. The car landed upside down crushing the roof in. The only thing that kept me from being thrown from the car was the fact that I drove with my steering wheel as low as it could go. Amazingly I came out with only cuts, bruises and a bump to my head.
Ever since that day I always wear my seat belt. My husband is a HUGE stickler on making sure that everyone is wearing their seat belt. Unfortunately I now have anxiety when driving or riding in a car. I always think about the ‘what ifs’ especially while on long trips.
I am so glad that you were okay!! That sounded absolutely terrifying!
Unfortunately, I do not think this anxiety is something you will ever get over. I havent been able to get over mine, and I take anxiety meds.
While I have not had a car-flipping incident, or anything to that extrememe.. my Jr. year in HS, me and 2 friends were in an accident, when the oncoming car decided to veer into our lane and hit us head on. We all were able to walk away from it, with only bruises and scratches, but it was still a frightening experience.
I have also had a handful of ppl I know be killed in an accident. The first one I remember was a friends Mother when I was only 10 years old.
Car accidents are always a constant fear and struggle for me. I have frequent nightmares about having one. I cry when somebody is driving too fast.. and not necessarily if its the car Im in. If a car zooms past me, I tear up, and yell, “Its ppl like you that cause accidents that kill ppl!”
Anytime I have a road trip, I vision accidents. Whenever a loved one is on a road trip I vision them. Its something I deal with everyday.
And yes, Tyler thinks Im crazy. Esp when I call him a bazillion times when I dont know where he is because I have a fear that he was in one.
Its bad.
I feel ya.
I can’t imagine how you must feel…I had a semi-serioius accident on the interstate once that involved someone rear-ending me…and I’m still paranoid when traffic stops (constantly checking my mirrors just waiting for someone to hit me), and this was six years ago. It never goes away, but I think being cautious is a good thing because you know it CAN happen to anyone. Thanks for sharing!
I always wear my seatbelt, my husband and I say to one another, “Put on your seatbelt, you’re precious cargo!”
I have a catastrophic way of thinking when I consider driving or travel in general. That means I visualize the worst and expect the worst. But I am generally able to calm myself through breathing, redirecting my attention, or talking it through with my husband. I don’t have a severe form of anxiety, so I don’t experience panic attacks, physical repercussions, or anything on the extreme end of the spectrum.
I think you can lessen your anxiety, I think you can work through it and find something that works for you to help alleviate some of your fears and anxieties. Talking about it on your blog is a good start, the fact that you know where it originates from is a good start, but keep working on identifying triggers and how to calm yourself when you start to feel overwhelmed and anxious!
I’m glad you and your girlfriends made it out of that accident, such a blessing. xoxo
I was in an accident when I was a freshman in college. I was in bumper to bumper traffic rolling along and kept checking my rearview mirror because the person behind me was too close. While I was glancing up, the person 2 cars in front of me decided at the last second (no blinker or anything) to turn left and everyone had to slam on their brakes.
I hit the car in front of me (on the front driver’s side since I tried to get around). The front end of my car crunched WAY up… going less than 20 MPH. The car in front of me was a subaru and all their damage was their plastic bumper corner fell off.
My car was totaled and I was told that if I hadn’t had such a huge car (94 buick lesabre) I would have had broken legs.
To make matters worse, my parents were out of the country, so I couldn’t call my daddy to come get me! I had to call my at the time boyfriend to leave work to meet me w/the police officer and all of that. His mom had to come get me and the junk out of my car to bring me home so the wrecker could take my car to the yard 🙁
I still get SO panicky when cars in front of my slow down- I stop so far away. It is the worst when someone else is driving and they don’t slow down or stop when I would have. My heart jumps into my throat and it beats double-time. It takes awhile for my heart to slow back down and stomach to feel normal again..
First off, thank you for sharing your story. I know it probably wasn’t easy, and your wonderful mood may be no more, but I think your story has something we can all learn from. My family, as long as I can remember, always made sure we had our seatbelts on no matter if we were going 1 mile or 100. I think that has a lot to do why I do today, no matter how far, fast or slow I travel.
I have not been in a serious accident, but I have friends who have been and I know from their anxiety why and how you feel the way you do. I know all I can do is support those friends when they are struggling, giving them support and love because honestly I don’t know what they went through…so it’s a little different.
I also USED to have friends who also got in some serious accidents yet never exactly learned their lessons…if that makes sense. Not that I would EVER wish anything harmful to happen to anyone, you would think something serious would cause a wake-up call to go off. Unfortunately for these guys it didn’t. I ended up being the one with the anxiety, not them. Strange, huh?
Thank you for sharing your story. Weird how our body and mind tell us to do/say something when we don’t exactly understand.
When I was 21 I was driving to my boyfriend’s house after having dinner with my parents. As I was driving through an intersection (i had the right of way) a giant truck plowed through and hit the driver’s side of my explorer. No braking, no swerving, just plowed into me. Luckily I’d started breaking (hoping he’d swerve around me) and the front of my car absorbed most of the impact. Thanks to my seatbelt and my window being down I escaped with bruising and minimal cuts.
Thank you for bringing about a serious and important topic. Glad that you and your friends made it out okay.
omg HONEY, you are NOT being a baby! i had major anxiety after seeing a car, RIGHT BEHIND US hit another car into the concrete wall and spin out of control. we were going 65 on the highway and we sped up as soon as we saw what was going on in the rearview mirror to get out of the way, but called 911 immediately to come and help. i’m pretty sure we were the first call. i was terrified for the rest of our trip and weekend and that didn’t even, technically, happen to me!!! thanks for posting this, my mister doesn’t always wear his seat belt and i get on him ALL THE TIME! i’m SO glad you and your friends were okay, there was definately an angel with you that day!!!
oh. my. goodness. I can totally relate to this whole story. Mine was just three years ago so, unfortunately, every single detail is still fresh on my mind. 🙁
WOW I don’t blame you for having anxiety about something so serious like that.People may make fun of people for wearing there seatbelts but seriously I have had a ton of my friends that I went to school with die because of NOT wearing there seatbelt.
I believe in seatbelts forsure.But I also believe in HELMENTS..
It was 2 years ago when my parents went out of town my hubby and I met my brother for lunch out on the beach here in Panama City, FL it was such a beautiful day well my brother pulled up on my cousins crock-rocket it was a sports bike and I saw that he wasn’t wearing his helment so I asked him I said why arn’t you wearing your helment and he said because I got these new sunglasses I want to show off! I told him Rob go home and get your helment even B told him man you need to wear your helment well I took a pic of my brother when he left standing next to the bike and we went about our buisness. Well when B and I were heading back in town we passed 2 cops flying by and I was like oh goodness let me call Rob to see if he is okay.
Well let me remind you EVERYONE is out of town but B and I and Rob so I couldn’t get ahold of him so I started freaking. Thats when I got the call from my Mother she told me to get to the hospital as fast as I can and Rob had been hit immediatly I started crying and praying to God please don’t take my brohter from me.
As I got to the hospital the security guard told me that I wasn’t allowed back well little did this guy know that I worked there and I had grew up in that hospital and I knew every short cut and room by heart there. So I went through the hall way and the double doors and ran straight to Intensive care unit#28 thats when I saw him my helpless brother laying there unable to talk,move,or even open his eyes.
I ran into the room and started praying he had been strapped down to the bed and he had needles and Iv’s and tubes and blood everywhere his legs were basically slices into.I still have bad nightmares about this accident but thankfully my brother lived.
But he had a cracked skull.
2 blood clots
a broken collar bone
they had to scrap all his road rash off
and he had to get a 2 foot rod put into his leg it goes from his knee cap to his ankle and he couldn’t walk for about 5 months and he had to spend 2 months in SICU just to recover from it.
Things happen in life when you least exspect it but when you don’t take the precasions to try and prevent somthing as precious as a life then you are just plain stupid in my book life is the most precious gift.
What an awful experience. So sorry you had to experience something like that.
That is so so so scary! I’m such a freak about wearing my seatbelt, and my husband isn’t. It makes me SO mad. I don’t drive off until everyoen is buckled up. I’m paranoid about it! One simple little thing that takes 2 seconds can and will save your life. Why not do it? I’m sorry you had to experience that. Praise the Lord that everyone was okay. Car accidents are one of my worst fears.
How you feel is completely understandable and normal. I lost one of my oldest friends back in December, just 2 days after Christmas, when she was in a single-car accident. She swerved and over-corrected, flipping her Jeep Grand Cherokee several times. We were told she died instantly, but she wasn’t wearing her seat belt. Had she worn it, she may have lived. Until 3 weeks ago, I drove the exact same Jeep Grand Cherokee she did, except mine was white, hers had been red. I couldn’t get in the car without thinking of her, and was overly cautious, knowing how easily Jeeps can flip. I gladly traded it in for a new car when it had some problems come up about a month ago, and while the car I drive is different, the anxiety is still there. I think talking about these things helps, thank you for sharing your story!
so sorry you went through something like this. my brother was killed in a car accident in 2003 at the age of 21 because he did not have his seatbelt on. Thing is, he ALWAYS wore it and was a huge advocate for seat belts. He pulled out of my parents subdivision and hadn’t put his belt on yet and sure enough something happened (we still aren’t sure if it was a deer that ran in front or what) and it was too late. He rolled his car 4 times and each time he was hanging out of his sun roof and his head was like a shaken snow globe by the time the car was done rolling. he died 34 hrs later. His friend lived and had his seat belt on. I’ve never had a bad accident but live in fear through my brothers accident. I don’t let anyone ride with me if they don’t put their seat belt on.
i can really relate to your story. the day after my 16th birthday, i was driving home from church in the passenger seat with some friends and a drunk driver turned right in front of us, we hit the back of his truck and our car spun in circles. My airbag exploded and i ended up with bruises, scratches from the broken glass and a really bad chemical burn on my entire left side of my face. It was one of the scaries thing to ever happen to me. Ever since then I’ve been so paranoid about driving, especially if i am sitting in the passenger seat. I get so freaked out if a car cuts us off, or the driver waits to break till the last minute. No matter how capable i know the driver is, i still panic and have to close my eyes, or even tense up really bad at the slightest disturbances. aslo, if i had not worn my seat belt i would have flown out the window and into the street. so ever since then I always wear my seat belt, its the first thing i do when i get in the car and make all my riders do the same.
i hope one we’ll be able to overcome our fears. god willling 🙂
How scary. It is no wonder you have anxiety about this, it sounds very tramatizing. A friend of mine just lost her best friend because she wasn’t wearing her seat belt and got in a car accident. It is SO very important to wear seatbelts. My grandpa fell asleep at the wheel and drove off a cliff and was stuck hanging upside down for hours. The only reason he is alive is because of his seat belt. It makes me sick to even think about it!
oh my gosh, how scary hun!! i’m so glad all of you lived through such a horrible accident!
i have been in an accident when i was 17 where i hit a lady, she ran a stop sign. i knew i was going to hit her, i was going 50 but i slammed on my brakes and think i was only going about 30 when i hit her. she lived, i lived…we both had our seatbelts on. i don’t get anxiety about driving or riding in someone else’s car. if i think about it driving scares the crap out of me, if that makes sense. car accidents are so scary and happen all too often!! i ride the bus to and from work and don’t drive all that much.
i know exactly how you feel. 9 years ago, i was in a horrible accident and since then had had bad anxiety problems. i have been off and on meds and don’t feel like it will ever go away 🙁