How to Calm Road Rage

Driving in traffic, or even just driving with one very slow car in front of you, can trigger your road rage. It’s definitely not something that people enjoy and it‘s also something that helps to contribute to accidents on the road. When you start feeling your road rage creep up, here are some tips to get it under control.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

1. Turn on the radio. Listening to some soothing music on the radio can help you to feel less tense. Even singing along to the radio can help to relieve the agitation that you are feeling. Who cares if the person in the car next to you is staring at you while you’re belting out your favorite song. You’re doing what you need to do to get through those angry feelings.

2. Take deep breaths and relax. A few deep breaths can slow down a racing heart rate triggered by road rage. When you feel calmer and more at ease, you’ll be able to handle the situation in a better manner.

3. Concentrate on not letting the other person's driving affect how you are feeling and realize that you can’t change how they are. All the screaming that you do in the world and all of the honking and hand gestures aren’t going to make the person become a better driver. All you can do is focus on what you are doing.

4. Realize that things could be worse than the slow driver in front of you. Somewhere, someone is enduring a worse situation then you are. A slow driver is a very small drop in the bucket of problems that you could be having.

5. Start thinking of all of the great things in your life and about things and people that make you happy. Whether it’s your family, your pets, the raise you recently got at work, your upcoming vacation or the television show that makes you laugh, thinking about positive things can create a positive, no-stress mentality.

6. Keep telling yourself that the situation is only temporary. Soon enough the other driver will be out of your way and you will be able to get where you need to go. They are not going to be around you forever. If you exhibit any signs of road rage to them, they may continue doing whatever it is that is irritating you just to get under your skin further. Then it will take you longer to get where you need to go.