The commute is something that many people dread. It can be an unpleasant way to start the day, which is made worse if you don’t enjoy your job. However, if you take the steps required to make this a more positive experience – even if only slightly – you might be working towards a better start for your day.
How exactly you do this is going to be subjective and changeable. Just as how you aren’t in the mood for the same genre of music every day, the activity that best suits you here will depend on how you’re feeling.
Using the tools you have
Rather than needing to pack a whole slew of new items and encumbering yourself just for the commute, think about what you’re already taking with you. For a lot of people, this is going to leave them with a phone and their headphones. There are a lot of things that you can do there, the smartphone being the multi-purpose tool that it is, but others might not want to spend even more time looking at a screen if that’s what they’re going to be doing at work all day anyway.
Listening to music or podcasts (or even audiobooks) is something that you can do without looking at the screen itself, though this might be the first port of call for many people. You might then be interested in mobile gaming, granting you access to classics of the medium as well as more general experiences like an online casino.
A good book
If listening to an audiobook during the commute is something that appeals to you, why not consider the physical option as well? Taking an actual book for the commute is obviously dependent on what form your commute takes. As with playing games on your phone, it’s not something that you’re going to be able to do if you’re driving, and if you’re on the bus, you might feel as though this makes you travel sick.
Not everyone will suffer with that, but even then, a train might be where a book shines. This can be a great way of focusing on something that isn’t a screen, as well as escaping from the world of the commute into the one on the pages.
Breathing techniques
This could also be a good opportunity to address mental health struggles that you feel are stemming from your work or the commute. While full-blown meditation is something that you can try to do on the commute, you might find it difficult due to all of the noise and distraction around you. With that in mind, scaling it back to just focusing on breathing techniques might be a more manageable place to start. The principle is much the same – looking to practice mindfulness by simply focusing on your breath. It’s something that can also have you noticing how you breathe normally – perhaps it’s very rapid and shallow, something that could increase your panic. Taking deeper, slower breaths can help to keep you calm and prepare you for the day ahead.
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