The person, who is forced to idle in traffic, inevitably feels tension and is even annoyed to some extent. The hopelessness of the situation ruffles our feathers because we get used to the fact that everything usually depends on ourselves. If you feel that such daily stress can eventually make you a patient of a psychiatric hospital, it is best to avoid traffic jams and use the subway. But if you’re not ready to leave the cozy interior of your car and are willing to learn to cope with the agonizing process of waiting, these tips will help you.
One automobile publication has conducted a survey, which showed that about 20% of daily drivers spend about 2 hours in traffic on the roads of large cities. The bulk of such hostages prefer music to fill the vacuum. About 23% send text messages or visit their accounts in social networks. But we encourage you to diversify your “traffic” leisure.
1. Educate yourself
You have been dreaming to start attending language courses, but you do not have enough time to do it. Well, now you have the time and you can use it to fill the gaps in your education. If you do not want to spend time reading, buy an audiobook or a language course.
2. In a traffic jam you can achieve success
Just a year of standing in a traffic jam will help you master a foreign language, become an expert on the history of Asia and Africa, a cooking theorist or an expert in geodesy. It is never too late to learn.
3. Bring the interior of your car to order
If you belong to the type of drivers who do not care about the decorated interior of the car, it’s time to make it more comfortable. Collect the trash from all possible places, remove all the excessive things from the glove box, get rid of unnecessary things and wipe the dashboard with a damp cloth.
4. Take care of your appearance
This is the choice women make. They constantly use makeup on their lips and eyelashes, looking in the rearview mirror, paint nails, or apply blush on their cheeks. Men can shave or just plan the next working weekday or weekend. The main thing in this case is to spend time with benefit doing what you could not find enough time for.
5. Improve your health
We have bad news for drivers: the people, who spend a lot of time in a car, are more likely to suffer from osteochondrosis of the cervical part of spine, as well as the unpleasant diseases like sciatica, lumbar sciatica and hemorrhoids. Today, there are many gymnastic programs that include exercises to help maintain the drivers’ shape. To do them you can even stay in your steel horse. Turn the neck, do exercises for the eyes, lean forward and use a carpal expander. There is even a special gymnastics program for traffic jams.
6. Practce meditation
Decide on how you treat meditation: for some people it is an eastern practice of controlling emotions and the flow of thoughts, for someone it is self-training, while others think that meditation is an opportunity to get some sleep in an inappropriate place. Close your eyes and mentally turn the noise of a traffic jam into the music of the ocean tide and car horns – into the brash screams of cute albatrosses. Do not be afraid to fall asleep: even if it happens, the car behind will certainly wake you up with its undisguised displeasure.
7. Use the benefits of high technology
Almost everyone possesses inherent attributes of a business man, as a smartphone, e-book, tablet or laptop. All these gadgets will help you easily kill time: watch a good movie, surf the Internet and read your mail, play a game or read a good book. It all depends on your preferences and mood. You will hardly manage without the high-tech stuff: the steering wheel of your car has already transformed into a very comfortable stand for your laptop.
8. Sing
Since the majority of drivers in traffic jams listen to music, why not imagine yourself in the singer’s pair of shoes and give a couple of concerts? Enjoy singing and develop your own talent. If you are not particularly shy, open the windows and try to make the neighboring drivers accompany you – choral singing helps digestion and raises your mood in a wonderful way. Believe it or not: you’d prefer to have your cheerful mood spoiled by the furious boss, who has been waiting for you and your annual report for two hours. But it would be even worse if the boss just aggravated your bad mood.
9. Talk on the phone
This is also a very popular way to kill time in a traffic jam. You can make a few phone calls to the people whom you have not called for a long time or just call your bank and find out all the details of your bill.
There are plenty of ways to overcome idleness while waiting in traffic. This will help treat traffic not as an unexpected delay, but as an opportunity to do what you do not want to spend your life on after the traffic jam disappears.
