I'd like to introduce you to Baz...

"Hi... Meet Baz...."

Just had a flashback to Z, a New Driver learning with me back in the day.

Long story short-er (hopefully!) Z was a driver full of anxieties and I have written of her before here in relation to Coaching and my comparison to the old 'Instructional techniques' I used.

My memory today was about the day Z formerly introduced both of us to Baz. Baz was her 'inner road rage daemon'!! Unlike Z, Baz was aggressive and would hurl abuse and close gaps to prevent someone from cutting in etc.

Baz would only emerge in certain circumstances but as you can imagine I was very uncomfortable with these sudden dramatic changes in Z's behaviour!!

After a few 'meetings' with Baz and his behaviour; [and before she and I knew who or what he was!!] I thought it was high time we investigated this 'aggressive behaviour'.

I could have done the usual and tell Z that this is not appropriate behaviour. Never close the gap because blah blah blah, and that's dangerous and all the rest of it. But I knew it would only moderate her behaviour whilst she was with me... or sadly, any other authoritarian figure.

NB - I do not wish to consider myself authoritarian, but by virtue of the 'Instructor/Pupil' role set up of all driver training, this is unchangeable.

We chose to chat openly about it. By this time in her training, Z was very comfortable to be honest with me. Phrases starting "I'll be brutally honest with you" were common 😃

The upshot in a nutshell was that:

• Baz comes out when Z is scared because other drivers put her at risk
• Baz protects her by 'fighting back'!
• Baz is a confident and bolshy Driver!
• Baz is part of her that she holds back... most of the time!!!

She was quite impressed by the frank discussion... hence we played with the idea and were introduced to Baz [the name Z gave to that inner part of herself].

It could sound a little psychotic to discuss these concepts in this way, however, Z and I decided it would be useful to use Baz to her advantage.

She discussed many occasions that she and Baz could work together (especially as they are both aspects within herself!!) Baz was sure to help during her driving test, and to get her out of sticky situations. Baz's alert; all observing driving style would certainly be useful when tired etc etc.

I have forgotten over the years how many times during sessions that Baz would be used and mentioned; what I do remember is that as Z explored her "Expressive Phase" of her driver development...

... she was much more prepared than many to 'self manage' the risks of road rage.

[[I never quite manage a short post, do I! - Sorry - thanks for reading though! 🙂 ]]