I hated learning how to drive, and only really started to tolerate it once I got a new driving teacher. I actually like driving now, mostly because it's one of the few times where I can turn my brain off while not being unfocused.

With that said...I have no idea why Americans (not assuming OP is American, but know it's rare over there) have such an issue with manual cars. My family has both manual and automatic, and I prefer manual because it's much easier to have control. It has never, ever been a distraction for me.

my parents only had manuals and I ended up taking the test a few years later with my friends automatic because they wanted to do a road trip and wanted me to take driving shifts.

Omg, stop whining. Do or do not, there is no try. If you don't want to drive, then why are you doing this?

Driving is one of the easiest things you'll ever do in life (wspeckally with cars built after about 1990).

If learning how to drive is this difficult for you, what are you going to do when something truly difficult comes along?

Being car free is totally possible.

Lol, OK, you do you.

How are you shifting? I had the hardest time with how I was “taught” manual until I had another friend correct me. You should be making a smooth transition between the clutch and the accelerator, so think 100/0…75/25…50/50…25/75…0/100. I was originally thinking that i had to be completely off the clutch before applying the accelerator and have to do it with pinpoint accuracy like you said and it was rough every time. After talking to my friend who had been driving manual for years and still does, I got a lot better.

I remember back when I first started learning to drive, dad tried to teach me in his SAAB 95 BioPower estate, it was a manual, it was terrifying.

I only took a few lessons before stopping, almost two daceds later, 2022 I enrolled with a local driving school, learned in a VW Golf Automatic. It was still scary at first, but at 34 was ready in a different way than when I was 18 or so.

Still, it took me almost a year of driving lessons to pass my test, though I did do it while working full time at the same time (I didn't take a vacation that year, I took sporadic days to attend driving classes).

The first time I took the test I failed as I didn't keep attention to where the car were in relation to a wall and the examinor had to step on the brake.

The second time went well, and I passed it.

Then for half a year, my dad and me went out on the weekends and I drove his car (a Volvo v90 Automatic), that was absolutely critical, I got the practice I needed and got to spend some quallity time with dad.

Then in the summer of 2023, I bought my first car, a 2021 Seat Leon PHEV hatchback Automatic, and I just went nuts!

In the first year of owning the car I drove 40000km, I drove like absolute mad, every day I got in my car and drove for hours, I explored the local area and the car, not to mention got used to driving.

That was also critical, driving so much has made me a confident driver, though perhaps a bit over confident as I got my first speeding ticket this summer going 10kmh over the limit at a surprise police speed trap.

Then this summer a badger decided to run into my car while I was driving 60, getting that sorted now.

These incidents have made me a calmer driver, especially when it is now getting darker here in Sweden.

I have a few rules of my own that have been very helpful to my being a better driver.

A. If something unexpected happens at an intersection, it might be me getting my priorities mixed up, or someone else behavinf oddly, if that happens, when I get home, I go on Google Streetview and look up the intersection and look at signs, makring and the general look of the place from as many directions as possible, I try to figure out why I drove the way I drove, and why other did it their way. This has helped me hugely.

B. I try turn around (at a suitable place) and drive the road properly after something either happened, or nearly happened. I do this so that the last time I drove a road went well, so an old mistake doesn't haunt me making me lore worried.

Oh wow, you must learn manual, that's ridiculous! Where in the world is that?

I've not started yet, but I'm going to learn automatic when I go to learn, my GF has been learning manual for over 2 years because her dad and our friend who drives said that it makes the most sense to, when in reality that's just because of what they were told based on outdated advice.

She even has an automatic waiting for her once she finally passes, but she's stubborn and doesn't want to switch to learning automatic, it's really frustrating how stubborn she is about not giving up or approaching it from another direction.

She has dyslexia and the British Dyslexic Association even recommends that dyslexics learn automatic as it's a known thing they struggle with. She even had to write L and R on her hands, bless her.

I've heard some people benefit from intensive driving courses, where you do like 2 solid weeks of lessons then take the test, but no clue if they have those in your country

I've suggested to her, if she really wants a manual licence then get the automatic licence, then decide if she really wants the manual, as she'll be more comfortable with roads and driving and can just focus on the manual aspect

With that attitude towards cyclists you probably shouldn’t drive because you’d be making the road unsafe for a mode of transportation that is healthier and more space and energy efficient than a car.

One thing that helped me relax when learning to drive: 99% of the time you only need to worry about what's directly in front of you. Unless you're changing lanes or backing up that's your main priority. Yeah it's good to be a defensive driver and anticipate things and that will come with time. Don't be overstimulated by every detail around you, know what to focus on. I hope this helps you relax like it did me