Collectively, Americans spend roughly 500,000 years stuck in traffic — nearly 4.2 billion hours. That’s a lot of time in the car! If you’re like most of us, you’ve found yourself frustrated while driving a time or two. Here are some tips to help you stay happy on your commute:
1. Leave a 5-10 minute cushion for yourself. Many people get anxious in the car because they get caught in traffic and end up being late for an appointment or meeting. Avoid feeling rushed by leaving yourself a little more time than you think is necessary.
2. Listen to great music. Turn on your favorite song and take time to enjoy it. You can even sing along if you want! I know I do.
3. Check the traffic. Avoid getting caught in traffic by looking at real-time traffic updates on a site like sigalert before you leave so you can plan your route accordingly.
4. Take another mode of transportation. Whenever you can, take another mode of transportation like the bus, train or your bike. Mixing it up will allow you to notice new things, decrease your stress and meet new people.
5. Practice an act of kindness. Help make someone else’s day a little smoother by practicing an act of kindness like letting a car merge into your lane. Even if you get to your destination 30 seconds later, you’ll feel better about your commute.
6. Take the scenic route. Stray away from your regular routine and go on a mountain road or drive along the beach. It’s hard to have road rage when you’re among beautiful scenery. Just to be sure to keep your eyes on the road :).
How much time do you think you spend in the car a day? What are your favorite songs to listen to?
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#6 – Several years ago we took a 6500 mile road trip with almost half being the oldest alignments of Route 66. For most of our back road travels, we found ourselves to be the only one on the old road.
Another tip for your list that helps keep my stress level down when driving is to drive at the speed limit. If you do this you will discover people drive in packs, at least in California, and between those speeding packs you will have the road to yourself.
Great points!
I always let people in…on ramps, lane changes, etc, but if you drive like a maniac or like a zombie…I yell. I try not to….but it’s inevitable. I may have slight road rage, but I’m working on it!
Hah! At least you admit it 🙂
Intuitively this makes sense. In practice, much harder 🙂 I used to spend 1.5 hours each way in traffic (what normally would take 30 min without traffic). I wanted to pull my hair out. Now I live 0.5 miles away from work and walk to work 🙂
That’s great that you get to walk to work!
Yes, but in 90 degree+ heat. It’s a trade off. Sweaty when I get to work or about to burst an aneurysm when I get to work 🙂
I will try these! I go to school in Miami though and it gets hectic! Everyone down here has road rage! Doing number 3 will definitely help! 🙂
I love to take the scenic route~ ❤ :~)