For the first time in a long time, I sat in traffic today. They are paving a section of road here in town, and while every time I drive by they are in a different area, it seems to be taking them forever. Today was no exception, except that they made traffic take forever as well, making us sit there for about 5 minutes without moving. In a big city like Los Angeles where I used to live, that would be considered a free-flowing, light-traffic day. But here in Taos, that’s a traffic jam! However, I have found the secret to not getting frustrated while stopped in traffic – take a look around. Once you start looking around instead of cursing and concentrating on the bumper of the car in front of you, it’s amazing where your mind can go. For instance, in those 5 minutes I was stopped on the road I:
- Saw a cool passive-solar house behind some bushes that I had never seen before because I normally am driving 45 MPH right by it
- Watched a cow play with her calf for a minute
- Chatted with a guy in the car next to me (well, he is my neighbor and it would have been rude not to)
- Thought of and wrote down a few blog post ideas for all my sites
- Saw a mom let her very young son hold the sprayer at the car wash, much to his delight
- Realized that there are very few things in life I need to be in a rush for!
What my roads normally look like
In reality, we are rarely in a hurry to be or get anywhere at all…we just don’t like sitting still in traffic. A few extra minutes on any given occasion is not going to make or break you 99% of the time, so why not do something for yourself when stuck in those situations? Notice a neighborhood you are normally too busy speeding through; check out what kind of trees line the side of the road; watch some people eating lunch in the local diner. Take stock of what is going on around you in those moments! Dream up a vacation you want to take, a meal you want to cook, call a friend you keep meaning to call, or figure out something special you want to do with your kids. Don’t waste your energy being upset about some traffic and a delay of a few minutes; turn that “downtime” into something constructive! 🙂
Mr. Savvy and I rented a book on tape from the library for our trip to Vermont last week, and since we didn’t have time to finish it on the road, we’ve been listening in the daily traffic jam to and from work (we carpool). It almost makes me wish traffic would last just a little longer. Almost!
I wish I could be that relaxed about traffic! I’ve tried, but my commute just stresses me out too much. I live about 35 miles from my work, but with city traffic and construction it can take me anywhere from 1 hour and 10 minutes to 2 hours each way. It really wears on me. Yesterday, for example, I had a scheduled appointment after work. I even left work a little early to give myself some extra time. What would normally be a 35 minute trip from my office to the appointment took an hour and a half. Oh the frustration!
I live in a tiny town in Oklahoma now, but when I was teaching I lived in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and traffic jams were fairly common. I don’t normally consider myself a Type A sort of personality, but there is something about sitting in traffic that just makes my blood boil! Eventually I realized that no amount of fuming and stress was going to get things moving again, so I might as well multi-task. I would work on lesson plans or grading if I had my school bag with me, or sometimes just daydream (which I kind of think is a lost art).
This is a great reminder that life is always happening – everywhere. Perhaps the universe is just insisting that we stop and see every now and again.
Definitely a great reminder, and a positive way of looking at it!