The month of June* was not too terribly kind to me this year. Between getting sick from a combination of serious sleep deprivation, sleep interruptus, financial woes, stress from work and the wife having a very bad accident while camping (fractured ankle which required surgery, I can pretty much say with a clear conscience that my spirit got smacked around quite a bit.
When late June rolled around and it was time for me to go to my facility to do payroll, I was pretty much running on autopilot. I went to my office and vegged out a bit before taking off to the facility. I left a little earlier than normal, due to the simple fact that my work week was being cut short because of the July 4th holiday.
I jumped in my care with the main idea of taking my sweet ass time in getting where I needed to be. And taking my sweet ass time requires me not to take the highway all the way there. While the highway is normally a good thing for me to drive, because my brain was doing its best impersonation of this,
I decided to take the back roads.
So after spending about several minutes on the highway, I took the exit I needed to take and a couple of minutes later, I was at the street I needed to be. After waiting for what little traffic there was to clear out, I took my left turn and turned on Gavin Degraw's debut "Chariots", which features this song.
Within a couple of minutes, I was feeling nothing but the breeze blowing through my car, the sun in my face and the music gradually bathing my spirit with a peace of mind not felt in quite a while.
It was the best leisurely twenty-five minute drive from the capitol to the where I needed to be. No traffic, no stress, no nothing. Just me, the car, the c.d. and my increasingly empty head. By the time I got to where I needed to be, not only was I at peace with myself, but I was in the frame of mind where I wasn't going to bite anyone's head off while I was there.
To me, a road trip coupled with music (of any kind, trust me, I do these trips with genres that make you look at me extremely weird) is the perfect antidote to what ails me. Let's face, on the road by yourself with just the radio or a c.d. is the best way to get through that part of your stressed out day in one piece.
How 'bout you? Are you able to find that peace of mind when you do your commute, or any kind of road trip for that matter? And if so, what helps you find it?
The power of music and travel!
ReplyDeleteDebra: Absolutely!
ReplyDeleteRoad trips are much better than my commute, which generally sucks. But music is always on!
ReplyDeleteM: I always enjoy my road trips, no matter how long they are. And yes, morning/evening commutes do suck.
ReplyDeleteMy commute usually involves me preparing for lectures and things in my head. I get the relaxation kind of feeling on walks mostly these days.
ReplyDeleteCharles: I usually do that on my morning commute. It's about the only way I can really prepare myself for the work day.
ReplyDeleteWith walking, I have to agree with you about the relaxation part, as I have a tendency to really empty my head in the process.
My favourite thing is driving my jeep with either the radio or the cd player on. The only issue is, I live in the country and have to tackle many single lane roads, which are fine until another car comes the other way and we have the battle of who is going to move their car into the side to let the other person past. And as some people (not going to mention who) don't seem to be able to judge the width of their own cars, I get wound up.
ReplyDeleteJoe: I now have that problem when I'm driving in the city, in that some people don't know how to read the parking signs (some streets have alternate days parking).
ReplyDeleteI used to have it when I drove to the other campground that my family used to be at. There's a four to five mile stretch in which the road is only two cars wide and there have been occasions where I've had to slow down so the other car wouldn't clip me.