Road Rage? 🚗 How I Handle It

[tanjakolader]

Almost every time I get behind the steering wheel and on the road, I realize how the road behavior of others affect me and I'm not proud of it. Because I'm aware of it, I am now actively working on how I react to it and although I'm not totally Zen, I do see a difference.

source

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Anyone who really, and I mean really knows me, knows that I'm not the most Zen person (and that's ok 😅) in the world, but because I'm aware of it I know how to "handle" it. If you're anything like me or even if you have the occasional outburst of anger - heck everyone gets angry at some point - the important thing is to know what triggers that anger. With me for example, when on the road, I get triggered by injustice and selfish behavior.

Let me elaborate: I'm on a very narrow street on which it's impossible for two cars to drive past each other, so there are open spaces built at certain points, so that one car can wait on the side and the other can pass by and when there are no oncoming cars, the one who waited could go ahead.

What goes awry is that some drivers are deliberately choosing to drive ahead and "hope" that you will dodge and wait for them, even though they were closer to those "check" points; meaning they didn't stop at those points. Yesterday, I was very calm and had no haste, so I stopped at every point and there was a driver behind me, who wanted to pass me by. Luckily he/she saw oncoming cars and chose not to go ahead, but I was scolding him/her in my head.

And now every time that I realize I'm scolding people (in my head) on the road, I tell myself to calm down and that it's not worth boiling my blood over. Nothing is actually, but hey it's a journey right? 😅 Another thing that I do is put on calming music or music in general to get my head away from negative feelings and into a enjoyable state of mind. So now I'm more calm and I try not to let other people's road behavior affect my day or my mood and it gets better each time.

Also had experiences like mine and if so, how did/do you handle it?

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Chasse into the backstage! 💃

NaturalMedicine.io

Comments

[justinparke]

I think 10 years in Cambodia forced me into Zen-ness on the roads. I've seen way too many brains and body parts from horrendous crashes. Ultimately, the largest car wins there, so even on a road with plenty of room for two cars, a larger car will make a pass as long as oncoming traffic is smaller than their car. So when you drive a bicycle, tuk-tuk, or motorbike, you are constantly run off the highway onto the shoulder.

I notice Cambodian drivers don't want to hit the brakes because that means accelerating again and losing precious gas money. Many Suriname drivers like to smash the throttle when taking off and smash the brakes seconds later at a stop sign or stop light.

Stay Zen out there on the roads.

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Posted on NaturalMedicine.io

[tanjakolader]

I could imagine what you've just described and same here; a lot of truck drivers expect those smaller cars to dodge them or whatever. I've also learned to deal with that behavior and as my mother always says "drive anticipating anything".

And I'll do my best to stay safe 😊.

!ENGAGE 20

[misterengagement]

There has already been too much ENGAGE today.

[drrune]

Hello, Tanja! Welcome to the community. It just so happens that I have a profound experience with anger, and I can give you a couple of tips for that. I suggest you find some sort of regular physical activity that allows you to focus that energy in your body, ofttimes rage is the result of unchanneled aggression and physical activity, especially some sort of combat or high-intensity exercise, are excellent for that. Also, creative labors such as writing, drawing and sculpting are excellent for any sort of emotional imbalance, and for life in general.

Be well, may you find increasingly greater comfort on the road!

[tanjakolader]

Ah thanks for that advice and definitely trying to workout everyday. And yes, writing does help a lot; at least for me. It helps sort out those thoughts 😊.

Have a great week! 😊

!ENGAGE 20

[misterengagement]

There has already been too much ENGAGE today.

[polarmystro]

It's like you always have to watch others more than you on the road. Yes I cuss out other drivers too they don't even know it lol

[tanjakolader]

That's so true. My parents, especially my mom, always say to drive anticipating, because we may drive as safely as we can doesn't mean that others will and so we should be prepared for anything.

Hahaha yeah I do too and even if they hear me I don't care, but the cussing is what I want to unlearn 😅; no use haha

!ENGAGE 10

[misterengagement]

There has already been too much ENGAGE today.

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[tanjakolader]

Thank you 😁.

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[tanjakolader]

Thank you. Really appreciate it 😁.

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