It’s morning, you’ve just woken up, and you check the time only to discover that you’ve missed your morning alarm.
You rush to get ready, your mind a mess and your heart pounding. And you fly out of the door to your car, realizing you have a mere five minutes to complete your twenty minute drive to work.
Suddenly, you see loads of illuminated taillights backed up for as far as the eye can see.
These taillights are accompanied by bright orange construction cones and big flashing signs.
You realize your twenty minute drive just turned into an hour one. And you begin to get even more stressed.
Or, maybe it’s 5:30 p.m. and you’re rushing to pick your four-year-old up from day care which ends at 5:40.
Your stress levels are already high.
You’re driving as fast as you can while being as safe as possible when all of a sudden a car cuts in front of you.
You have to hit the breaks and swerve out of the way quickly to avoid a collision. Your heart rate is up and your adrenaline is pumping.
You find your stress level rising immeasurably.
In today’s world, driving may be a major reason behind stress.
Factors that make driving stressful.
Many people spend an innumerable amount of hours in traffic throughout their lifetimes.
In fact, traffic issues seem to only be getting worse with the amount of cars on the road.
In several large cities, traffic issues are a serious public safety issue. And, at times, it would appear as if drivers are less courteous than they’ve ever been.
Another source of stress may not even include driving.
Vehicles can be a chore to maintain. You have to keep track of the mileage and time since your car was last maintained.
You’ve got to worry about paying insurance bills, big repair fees, rising gas costs, and basic maintenance bills.
The monetary stress required to keep an automobile on the road, can be tremendous. Especially if you work for yourself.
Also, you may be burdened with a vehicle that has constant break-downs. If your automobile isn’t reliable, it can be quite a trying expertise.
For parents, chauffeuring kids around can be an added stress. Especially if you’re constantly trying to break up arguments between them.
If you don’t like doing that, you then have to take the time to find something to keep them entertained.
Stress is everywhere!
Driving stress may be a truth of contemporary life.
There will forever be potholes, discourteous drivers, cranky passengers, and many other driving inconveniences.
You will inevitably encounter traffic jams on your way to work, or any other place you go.
There will always be times you’re running late, gripping the steering wheel so hard that your knuckles are white, wondering whether or not you’ll make it on time.
How can the stress stop?
While you can not eliminate the stress of the road, there are ways that to curtail it. For an example, you may be able to download Pandora, Spotify, or another music streaming app. You can play music you like and “jam out” to a genre you find soothing on a troublesome driving day.
Or you could get an app like Audible where you can listen to audio books while you’re stuck in traffic.
A lot of the apps available now are free but they contain ads.
Others have long free-trial periods or you are able to get discounted rates on subscriptions. You can use discount codes that your favorite vloggers and creators give you on their content! Who says something like YouTube can’t save you money?
You may find that listening to things you love can make your stress levels go down no matter the situation.
Another possible solution to ceasing stress-filled driving is doing something such as changing up your typical route to a place.
Are you always stuck in traffic on your way to work but there’s another, less populated way? Take that route instead.
While you may notice that your commute time is longer, you may end up discovering that your stress is reduced significantly once your route is modified.
Another technique that several drivers use is to leave five to ten minutes prior to their actual “leave time”. That way, you don’t have to rush everyday to get to your destination on time.
Those five or ten minutes have the potential to create quite a difference to your daily commute and your daily stress level.
In addition, you may enjoy having a few extra minutes at work to prepare for the day ahead.
All-in-all
Driving is a necessary daily duty for many folks. The trick is to make it as pleasurable, and as doable, as possible so as to reduce your stress levels. Investment in making your car as comfortable as possible is always a good thing.
Taking part in games with your children—such as making an attempt to identify out-of-state license plates—can be yet one more effective stress-reducing technique.
Chances are you may not be able to cut back your stress level entirely. In fact, many people become quite susceptible to having stress while on the road. However, by making an attempt to make your drives as pleasant as possible, you are able to go to a whole new level when it comes to dropping driving-induced stress.Do things such as finding the right job and knowing what to wear. You can find many articles to remedy these stresses on Flow Words!
