Tips for dealing with traffic stress? page 3

[SoccerGrok]

My drive to work just changed from 20 minutes each way to 45-60 minutes each way. I am accumulating stress very quickly from just this commute, not to mention my newer job is faster-paced and more stressful. Anybody have any tips for calming down during the commute, at the very least? My shoulders are extremely tight at 8am in the morning, before I even start work!

Move out of the Bay Area. Worked for me, and I'm a native from La Honda:-)

[Kylex286]

ACDC and a very large sub-woofer

[sakura_girl]

Move out of the Bay Area. Worked for me, and I'm a native from La Honda:-)

Doesn't Portland have a bunch of crazy traffic as well? :P

[Alex Good]

[sakura_girl]

lmao, wouldn't that be more likely to cause traffic accidents?

[Alex Good]

lmao, wouldn't that be more likely to cause traffic accidents?

I wouldn't really know considering everyone has a different level of self control when it cums to orgasms. If I got a bit of oral attention while driving then I'd probably crash but you could poker face it all the way to work for all I know.

[HotRodKristina]

I had a 62-ea-way commute for over a year when I lived in OC/worked in Fontana.

It took me 45 minutes to get through the first 10 miles....

Audiobooks. Lots and lots of audiobooks.

[lopisheep]

Oh, yes. Tigard, in fact, has a notorious bottleneck. And then there's crossing the border from Portland to Vancouver and back. Portland driving can be a nightmare. You never know if you need 8 minutes or 45! But compared to Cairo, L.A., New York, Seattle, San Francisco, etc., it's not so bad.

Hint: If you're in the Portland area wanting to go to Powell's for books, Sunday a.m. is a wonderful wonderful time. And -- you can find a parking place:-)

One of my daughters does a lot of driving. I don't think she gets in the car without audio books! Good luck. I've done those way too long drives way too much. And then there was the day the cement mixer flew over the dividing line in the road -- which caused one of the students where I taught to ram me between his monster car and a parked Mercedes -- totally totalling my car! Aw, the non-so-pleasant commutes.

Another daughter of mine totalled her car on the bridge between Portland and Oregon. I ended up running across the bridge to her and the kids as the traffic was stopped. Luckily, my husband was driving us to her, so he could stay in the car and I could run. We got her three kids and my youngest out and away before tow trucks and such got there to take smoking car away.

Or the time... well, anyway, sympathizing totally with your issue. Hang on in there. Kids' audios are fun too. CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY or Usula LeGuin or...:-)

[waterjen]

A lot of people already beat me to it, but audio books. I switched to them when I realized the combination of radio ads, DJ patter and songs I'd heard a zillion times already were contributing to my road stress (and I didn't even have a 10-minute commute). What I have found is that audio books make me a safer, more patient driver. I don't mind sitting in a traffic jam so much or through an extra red light because I'm keen to hear what happens next in my story. Also, audio books make longer drives -- such as for weekend getaways or drives to see family in other towns -- fly by.
Plus I made really good friends with my local librarians. They have a ton of options in my library branch and the ability to order audiobooks from other branches if they don't have a specific title in-house.

[EmeraldRose]

*snip*
the combination of radio ads, DJ patter and songs I'd heard a zillion times already were contributing to my road stress (and I didn't even have a 10-minute commute).

This. Times 100. There were some commercials that made me sooooooo annoyed. Now I just listen to Rammstein. Things are MUCH better!