Save this article
Use this article for free on your own website
Republish this article for free on your own website or blog. Or search or browse for more articles that your audience will appreciate. Huge choice available. Ideal for finding quality, free content. Read our publishers guide.
Why Add Stress To Your Commute?
Unless you work at home, there's always some stress involved in getting to your job. Here are eight tips to lower that stress level.
Do you find yourself stressed when you get out of your car ready to begin your work day? Are soaring gasoline prices a worry? Was the traffic too heavy? Do you live too far away? No matter the cause, these eight trips for NOT getting stressed will help you.
1. Leave earlier in the morning. You don’t have to feel victimized by traffic gridlock. Strive to arrive an hour or even two hours early, at least one or a few days a week. You can take an early morning walk which will both clarify your thinking and allow you to make plans for your day’s work.
2. Leave work later. Juggle your schedule to leave at a different time so that you’re not always trapped in the heaviest traffic even if you only do this twice each week. Take a course at a nearby community college, or spend an hour at the local library. Stay late one night and have a after-hours social gathering with your buddies to let the bulk of the traffic pass by.
3. Whittle down your gas bill. Alleviate some of the financial stress that comes with paying higher gas prices by making sure your car is tuned up. Have you checked the level of inflation of your tires? If they are not inflated properly, they can burn more gasoline. Replace clogged air filters. Also save gas by lightening up the load in your car trunk.
4. Relax. If the gridlock you’re caught up in can’t be avoided, just take a deep breath and breathe consciously like this until you become calm again and can place your thinking on the road and off your distress. Stress is contagious, so don’t become an instigator or a victim of road rage on today’s already stress-congested highways.
5. Learn. Keep a book-on-tape or book-on-CD to entertain or teach you while you are sitting in traffic. Public libraries have huge selections of histories, motivational recordings, language lessons, business tips, biographies and other topics.
6. Don’t talk on your cell phone. Cell phones are becoming an increasing cause of traffic accidents, which is why many cities are banning cell phone talk on the road. Don’t do it. When an emergency happens, stop and pull off the road before you place a telephone call.
7. Accept the inevitable. Accidents on the highway are not always expected and can make you arrive later. It’s a common denominator among today’s commuters, so keep that in mind before you worry that your boss or acquaintance won’t understand. Besides, accelerating and braking too much in traffic also uses more fuel. Be accepting (and safe!) instead of stressed.
8. Consider mass transit. Instead of dreading getting behind the wheel, you’ll look forward to letting someone else do the driving while you read or plan your day’s schedule on paper. Besides, a healthy walk to the bus stop is one more way to make exercise part of your day!