A: This is a very difficult subject. There are a lot of asshats on the roads and they are doing a lot of asshattie things that can make it hard to find your calm center. Being so angry can be detrimental to your health and undo any work you’ve put into getting fit. Luckily, there are a few things that you can do to prepare yourself before getting behind the wheel of your car.
We All Have Bad Days
You need to remind yourself that we all have bad days and maybe that jerk didn’t intentionally cut you off, or slow to a snail’s crawl just to get under your skin. If you practice this mind set you may eventually be more forgiving, and less reactionary with the other drivers on the road. It hasn’t worked for me, so far, but that is hardly surprising since they really are doing it on purpose just to piss me off!
Work That Body!
You need to workout. Being healthy in body helps us be healthy in mind. A good long workout relieves stress and releases endorphins into your bloodstream. Hard to be angry when you have those natural “feel good” chemicals flowing through your system.
Tranquility is Key
You could always use something to calm your frazzled nerves. Now, you need to be careful here. You don’t want to be driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. At least not to the point that it could be dangerous, or legally actionable. That’s probably all I should say on this point, but there are a couple of people who contribute to this site that would be better able to answer any questions in this area. Use your best judgment.
Get Out That Aggression
Finally, you should take up violent video games. Get that aggression out on some bad guys in a pixelated environment. Explode a few heads and you will have channeled your anger away from the real world. If this doesn’t help with your anger towards other drivers, it will at least give you interesting fantasies for how you wish you could deal with those annoying monsters of the road. It might also help to label a button in your vehicle as “Deathray”, “Machine Guns”, or possibly even “Disintegration Beam”. Pushing that button might not have the desired effect, but it could put a smile on your face and save a little wear and tear on your heart.
