Hello!

The past 6 months or so I've had this weird thing happen. Whenever I am walking outside, I feel like I tense up and I'm nervous to walk. I'm able to walk unaided, so I know I can physically do it, but it's like a mental block I have. And it's only outside on pavement when there's nothing around me, such as walking across a parking lot. It's like I'm nervous I'm going to lose my balance and fall, so I tense up and feel like I need to hold onto something to walk. I know tensing up actually makes me more likely to fall, but it's like my brain won't let me walk unless someone or something is nearby I can hold on to in case something happens. I was never like this before, and I don't know what to do. I don't think I need a cane or anything to walk because everywhere else I'm fine walking. It seems like it's more of a mental challenge than a physical one. It's like pavement is what triggers it. Walking next to someone I'm fine. It's just walking by myself.

An example of this happening is today, I parked my car on campus in a handicap spot, and I went to cross the parking lot, which was probably no more than 10 feet from handicap parking to the curb, to go into the library, and I just stopped. I turned back to go to my car, sat back in my car, waited a few minutes, and tried again. My second try, I was able to cross, but I still felt a little tense. As of writing this post, I'm in the library now because I have a break between classes, and I'm worried about what will happen when I have to walk back to my car. I hope it doesn't happen again.

Does this happen to anyone else? If so, how do you overcome it?