Long Drives

I used to hate driving anywhere that took over 10 minutes. That’s because I was usually running late, and it would just be more time to stress, and then speed, and then stress about speeding. But that’s been changing. 

I was raised in a family that thought on-time was late and 10 minutes early was on-time. I naturally thought that was ridiculous. So I decided that logically on-time was actually on-time. But then, what was on-time began to stretch to 5 minutes late. 

But I know now why being early is smart. I tried it just for fun near the end of last term driving to work. I left early enough that I’d be 15 minutes early. But there I ended up being stuck in traffic from a car accident. By the time I arrived, I barely made it on-time. So then I decided to make an additional conscious effort to be early everywhere. Since then, I haven’t been stressing out anymore. 

I live in Salem. So I have a 30 minute drive to school, a 25 minute to work, and a 30 minute drive to church in Albany. I usually drive out to Albany 1-2, sometimes 3 times a week. Although I used to loathe the long trips (and the rate that my car used up gas), I now enjoy the trips. I even look forward to them. It’s a time to sit and relax, listen to music, take in the scenery (assuming it’s not raining), and most importantly, it’s a time that I don’t have to think about homework at all.

It’s funny how just changing one thing affected a huge portion of my life. If I calculated the hours I spent in my car stressing out (which I won’t because I’m not a math major), I’d see what a large chunk of my life was spent in unnecessary anxiety. Plus, I’m sure it’s much healthier to be stress-free!