Thursday, August 9, 2007

Traffic as Stress Buster

Stress is a result of a cluttered mind and traffic is just an excuse. We all know that traffic exists and the infrastructure department is not under our control. Accept it.
We live in the rush age, where no one has time, even to scratch their head. So keep your time in traffic as your time. Use it to serve you instead of stressing you.
Imagine, if you could get 4 hours everyday to spend with yourself! That would be a dream wouldn’t it? Well, it’s time to make it true with these simple tips.
Anticipate the time you will spend bumper to bumper. Make a list of all the things that you wanted to do but couldn’t make time for. Now since I drive 2 hours to work, dancing and exercising obviously didn’t qualify. Chatting with mom daily for 15 minutes surely did. I always wanted to take singing lessons and doing a karaoke with radio definitely added to the fun and enthusiasm. I get to do some planning for the day in the car and even get time to jot down some notes during the long signals. I love meeting new people, so I usually slow down at pool a taxi stand and I have added seven new friends to my list by just offering a ride. I even do my deep breathing exercises from Hajji Ali to Peddar Road daily and that keeps my mind fresh and ticking. Believe me; my greatest creative ideas come at the free stretch on the Western Express Highway against the skyline on the Santacruz flyover.

Now, if I use my habitual lateness to blame the stress on the traffic, I am setting myself on a path to stress in every area of my life. Stress when practiced daily, becomes a habit and soon becomes our personality.
Traffic related stress is as illogical as planning a wedding of your car. You WILL meet traffic, use your time in traffic to your liking, traffic time can become rejuvenation. Traffic is and can be a blessing, which would allow you to evaluate your life differently. Your time is all you own, so how to spend it must be your choice. Don’t allow your attitude of blame to eat it up.
Time is life and both are moving on a countdown. Let traffic give you the opportunity to recharge, re evaluate, rethink and relive.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

another lesson on an awesome perspective! i remember i thought about it quite a lot the first time you mentioned such an idea..brilliant thought! thanks!

Unknown said...

i use my travel time to listen to my power songs, it is great to do so i feel happy when i reach office and even when i reach home.

thank u

Unknown said...

aahhhaaa very good idea to utlize each & every moment. Thanks for such a brilliant thought :o)

Nupur said...

This is something that i relate to completely and will make use of it now. Thanks for the useful tips

amrita somaya said...

Hi Priya,

This is a great way to utilise time for myself. Earlier I used to make calls while travelling, which increased the irritation, as the honking would make it impossible to have a conversation. But I can still use that time with myself, and make my task list for the day, and soo many other things.

Thanks for this wonderful read!!!