How to Enjoy Getting to and from Work and Reduce Stress Associated with Your Daily Commute
If you work in an urban area and commute daily you know the frustration of dealing with traffic delays, missed buses, crowded trains and commuting stress. A survey from the Angus Reid Institute reports almost 3 in 5 people (58%) in the Greater Toronto Area spend more than 30 minutes commuting to work. 12% of commuters spend more than one hour commuting to work each day.
Some people can alter their start and end times to avoid heavy traffic, others can opt to work from home occasionally, for others carpooling might be an option and some people might even consider riding their bike to work. However, for many people these are not viable options, so how can you improve your commute to work?
One of the reasons people find commuting so stressful and frustrating is the tendency to focus on the negative. People get angry about the bumper to bumper traffic, bad drivers, crowded trains, the late bus, and the time wasted commuting. One way to manage your commuting stress is to be prepared for slowdowns, delays, and the typical problems associated with your commute. These events should not take you by surprise. You know your commute will take you a certain amount of time, and on some days this time might even double, so be prepared to spend the time doing something positive.
Use your commuting time to engage in something you truly enjoy. This approach may just turn your commute from the time of day you dread to a time of relaxation. Your in car stereo or smart phone allows you to access a wide variety of media entertainment that can improve your commute. You might even find yourself sitting in your driveway listening to the end of a chapter from an interesting book.
Relaxing Ways to spend time Commuting to Work:
- listen to music,
- catch up on a favourite news podcast,
- listen to a novel – if you enjoy reading and drive to work, listening to a book is a great way to spend time in your car – use your cd player or download a book to your smart phone
- learn something new – listen to a non-fiction book, webinar, TED talk, Lynda.com training, or other on-line learning on your smart phone
- call a friend or your mom and catch up
- enjoy the relative quiet inside your car – mediate and engage in some deep breathing – eyes open please
- plan your next vacation, party or day off in your head
- use the record feature on your smart phone to “talk to yourself” – record your thoughts and observations, make a to do list, prepare for a meeting, rhyme, sing, or philosophize…
If you commute on public transit you have even more choice of relaxing activities:
- read a book, magazine, newspaper
- watch a movie, TV series, YouTube, music videos… make sure you use headphones so your media does not disturb people around you
- catch up on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or whatever social media you enjoy using
- people watching can be fun
- sleep – make sure you set an alarm and use the vibrate feature or headphones
You can manage your commuting stress by choosing to do something you enjoy. Plan ahead so you can turn the daily commuter grind into time well spent for yourself.
