How To Control Anger On The Road
I’ve experienced road rage first hand; it’s a combination of various emotions including anxiety, irritability and pure rage and these feelings are usually provoked by another driver cutting you off or someone driving particularly slow. My personal belief is that road rage has a tendency to occur most frequently in the mornings when people are in a rush to get to work on time. I’ve never experienced road rage on the weekends when I’m calm and had plenty of sleep. The easiest thing that you can do in order to help lessen road rage in the mornings is to leave your home extra early.
You might want to leave around fifteen minutes then you usually do. This is important because you never know what can happen on the roads; traffic may possibly be horrendous due to rain or a street that you frequent might be closed off. There have been a few times where I left for work to find out that the nearest major street was completely blocked off and I was forced to take a detour and enter the 405 South freeway onramp at another entrance. To make it even worse, the line to enter the freeway was extremely long and the whole incident set me back at least a good twenty minutes. Leaving extra early leaves legroom for incidents such as these and will help you feeling calm and less anxious.
Personally I’ve found that I’m more prone to road rage when I’m already irritable and stressed out to begin with. My tolerance level for dealing with traffic appears to be much higher when I’m in a good mood. There are definite steps that you can take which will help you stay in a better mood in general. This includes exercising on a regular basis and getting plenty of rest at night. Exercise increases endorphins which elevates mood and it’s a great tension reliever. Most people also tend to feel happier and better equipped to handle a long commute after a good night of sleep.
Deep breathing is another way to deal with your rage. If you are prone to getting irritable behind the wheel you might also consider taking up meditation a few times a week. Try to keep calm and realize that you have complete control of your emotions.
Keep in mind that there is a human being behind the wheel of the other car. A lot of times when we get angry on the road we depersonalize it by being angry at that “slow car in front of us” but remember inside every car is a real person; perhaps even one we might even like if we were to meet them under different circumstances. Losing control behind the wheel is never worth it; not only are you endangering your own life but also the lives of others. There are people out there who are currently serving prison sentences for road rage related incidents. Leaving your house extra early, getting plenty of rest and deep breathing should help to make your daily drive a bit more bearable.
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