Stress Reliever
by Trisha Fitzgerald, SUNY Cortland, December 28, 2006
As a college student, to be able to find that one thing that takes your stress down a few levels is an amazing feeling. In between papers, tests, quizzes, homework and studying for finals, it’s important to have something that will allow you to relax for a little while. Some people work out, go to the movies, or grab ice cream. For me, it’s a car ride, "my breathe in breathe out" device. Forget destination: Paradise. The travel itself is exactly where I want to be.
Everyone knows what it feels like to have a day that started way too early and lasted way too long. You sat through your first class with all the information the teacher was giving going right over your head because you didn’t pay attention to the reading the discussion was drawn from. Well, when you thought about it, you figure if you had the chance to listen to it again you wouldn’t anyway, because that dry discussion wasn’t much of an incentive. In the next class, well, you don’t remember what you did in that class, but the class after that you remember the homework you did was more wrong than right: Reason being that you hadn’t paid attention to the last lesson so when going to do the homework you created your own logic as to why the answer was B and so on. You finally get out of your last class, and you’re hungry but have no energy or desire to go and wait in line for food, college food, which you don’t want anyway. The walk back to your dorm in reality is only a five-to-eight minute walk, but seems to last a lifetime, because all you want to do is lie down for five minutes to let some of the day wear off a little. That ends quickly because you realize your paper isn’t going to write itself, and by the time you get out of work later you are not going to want to start writing it at midnight.
The paper is finally finished, and you notice you only have an hour to get ready, grab a snack and make it down to your car in the pouring rain. You’re staring at your outfit selection thinking that you don’t want to wear a single thing in your closet, but better make something work because you don’t have time to diddle-daddle; you are already running late as it is. You finally make your way to the parking and the door to your car. It may only be a thirty minute drive to work, but it’s the best feeling you’ve had all day, just knowing those thirty minutes are yours.
You have been driving for fifteen minutes when you stop at the light and think about how much you don’t want to be going to work but you are okay with it because you know you have the drive back to relax a little more before you get back. The peaceful drive continues with a long open road and nothing but hills and trees for as far as you can see. You play around with the radio dials until to you find something to your liking, and on comes that song your parents used to sing when you were little. It brings you back to a young and carefree feeling that puts a smile on your face. Up ahead is a hill, you go a little faster 'til you are over it so that your stomach will drop and escape your body, leaving you laughing for a minute or two. They say you live a second longer with every laugh; who wouldn’t want to believe that? You have done this drive too many times to count so you know you only have a minute or so until your exit comes up. You start to get into your work mindset, turning the radio down a little. You pull into your usual parking spot and look at the building knowing that your relaxation time is at its end. You get out of the car, a little more relaxed, calmed and in a more optimistic mood. You smile at people on your way in, thinking they probably had a long day themselves and who knows, maybe that little smile will go a long way.
For me it’s a little drive that is my escape from reality for a little while. A place where all I have to do is drive, and life, even if for just thirty minutes, lets me have my own time. It’s important to find your own escape. A lot of people don’t even realize that they may be stressed out. Working out is, of course, a healthy way to relieve the stress, a movie will let you be in someone else’s world for a while, hanging out with your friends is enjoyable and the time flies by, and driving lets you be in your own little peaceful world. There are many more ways to relax, you just have to find the one that suits you. The less stress you have, the healthier you will be. And in the long run, you will want to be able to look back and like the choices you made.
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://neovox.cortland.edu/mt/mt-tb.cgi/455
your thoughts?
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)