Dealing with Road Rage: A Personal Perspective

When I'm stuck in traffic, I often find myself getting frustrated and worked up. However, over time, I've learned to manage my emotions and cope with road rage in healthier ways. For me, it's essential to take a step back and assess the situation before reacting impulsively. I'll sometimes sit back, watch an episode of TV, or even make some food to calm down and gather my thoughts.

One strategy that has helped me is to talk to myself in a third-person manner, much like my dad does when he gets frustrated while playing golf. This tactic allows me to detach from my emotions and respond more thoughtfully. When I'm feeling particularly agitated, I'll say something like, "David, you freaking idiot, why are you so mad?" This behavior may seem silly, but it helps me gain perspective and reminds me that there's always a logical explanation for someone's actions.

Another aspect of road rage that can be infuriating is when other drivers fail to pay attention or drive slowly, causing mile-wide backups. However, I've come to realize that these situations are often beyond our control. Rather than getting angry, I try to focus on the present moment and find ways to entertain myself while driving. This might involve looking at the scenery around me, observing birds or clouds, or even playing old games in my head.

Of course, there are some instances where road rage is more challenging to manage. For example, when someone cuts me off or almost sideswipes me, it's natural to feel upset. However, I've learned that reacting impulsively can escalate the situation and lead to more problems down the line. Instead, I try to take a deep breath, step back, and remind myself that letting go of my anger is the best course of action.

One time, I had an experience with someone who almost sideswiped me while driving recklessly on the highway. The person got out of their car and apologized for not seeing me, saying something like, "How do you miss a bright blue car?" The whole exchange left me feeling annoyed, but also amused by the absurdity of the situation.

My approach to road rage has evolved over time, and I've learned that it's essential to avoid getting out of my car and engaging with aggressive drivers. This can lead to physical confrontations or escalate the situation further. Instead, I try to "let it go" and focus on driving smoothly and calmly.

In some cases, I'll take alternative routes that may be longer but less congested. These detours often provide a therapeutic experience, allowing me to enjoy the scenery and clear my mind while driving. On particularly long road trips, I've found that these moments of peace can make all the difference in managing stress and frustration.

My friend once teased me for taking alternative routes on our road trip, saying, "You should have taken that faster route! Man, I told you so!" While it stung at first, I realized that my GPS had made a logical choice based on real-time data. This experience taught me the importance of being adaptable and trusting in the decision-making process.

When dealing with road rage, it's essential to cultivate a mindset of calmness and self-awareness. By taking a step back and observing our emotions, we can respond more thoughtfully and avoid escalating the situation. Whether it's talking to ourselves in third person or finding ways to stay entertained while driving, there are many strategies that can help us manage road rage.

One of my favorite coping mechanisms is to focus on the future rather than dwelling on the present moment. When I'm feeling frustrated while driving, I try to think about how I'll look back at this experience in the end and wonder why I got so upset. By shifting my perspective, I can regain a sense of control and calmness.

Ultimately, dealing with road rage requires patience, self-awareness, and a willingness to adapt. By developing healthy coping mechanisms and practicing mindfulness, we can reduce our stress levels and make our driving experiences more enjoyable.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: endudes I live in the country now this is awesome and room please ignore all the crap in my back seat it's from all the consistent trips I've been taking recently it's a mess and I know it so it's hard for me to back out of this driveway so I'm going to go country boy and go off-roading an off-roading Mustang who knew what is up guys David here for another vlogg Vlog and I hope that every single one of you is having a wonderful day so anyway let's get to the topic that the title says in the video and that is something I think all of us in the car world and the non-car world have dealt with and what is that it's road rage it's when you're having a bad day and your day just keeps getting worse and it keeps getting worse and it keeps getting worse and then you hop in your car and then every little thing in the world just sucks it's horrible so like I'm driving down the road right now and I'd be mad that the pavement changed color oh that's stupid why would they do such a thing it really brought the road together man big laas joke so okay it could be the old person in front of you who's driving 30 Mi under the speed limit it could be you sitting at a stoplight for minutes it could be the person in front of you not going when the light is green it could be the person who cuts you off without the blinker really that hard to turn your blinker on I mean look at this effort that was so hard here's that funny saying where you can drive as crazy as you want as long as you use your turn signal and people really can't get that mad but it's when you don't turn it on is when everybody gets mad but like I said earlier road rage is typically a root of a problem that's already in your life so like it's like a subtext almost there's an underlying problem that you've had that day or in your life that's just beating you up in your subconscious but then when you get on the road and people just start being stupid which let's just face it there's a lot of dumb drivers out there yeah it doesn't help I'm going to tell you probably my worst case of R rage I've ever had which is funny because not only was it their fault it was my fault so go back 2 years ago and I'm still in college and I still live in a dorm and it's Christmas break I'm ready I've got my semester done I did my finals I did great I'm like wow I made it I'm good time for Christmas break the thing is this is back when I lived in Virginia Beach and I'm now in the Richmond area of Virginia and it's about a 2hour ballpark drive without traffic a lot of the highways they have these underwater tunnels there's the Hampton Road Bridge Tunnel and then there's 664 which is mirac tunnel there's a bunch to these underwater tunnels so with that you go from four lanes or five Lanes to two lanes no boyo everybody congests and merges at the last second and you get the people who cut in front of everybody and go around and they don't wait which is such a that's that's like one thing to start causing road rage it's like dude wait like everybody else don't be that guy and then I go back and I'm like oh I've been that guy before so I sit in that traffic for like 2 2 and a half hours and I'm just sitting there you know ranting and venting about how stupid this is and how Virginia Beach's road infrastructure needs to be worked on and I'm saying this all to myself cuz I'm bored in the car so I finally make it to pretty much the edge of the traffic and I make it to Williamsburg Virginia you know the good old Colonial Williamsburg and then I'd realized I had screwed up and then I touched my pocket right here to make sure that I had everything and I was too stupid to not double check when I was back at the dorm because I was so excited about going home that I had forgotten my phone and I was going to be I was going to be home for like uh almost 2 weeks so I had to have my phone so then David broke bad I pulled a freaking Heisenberg on myself I started venting and yelling and all these I had a bad Tipper at one point in my life a really bad Tipper and so but you know over time you get older you realize it's kind of dumb okay everybody still has their freakouts occasionally but this is by far the worst kind of mental breakdown freakout I've ever had when it came to something small i' had already had all this stress from the finals I've already had all this stress from not sleeping I just wanted to be home and then all of a sudden I realized that I had to drive all the way back so then I sat in another 2 hours of Tunnel traffic came all the way back got my phone sat down watched like an episode of something on TV to like cool down and and then uh made some food drove back home with zero traffic because it was that late at night so when I ever got mad in road rage I would always like talking third person like David you freaking idiot blah blah blah blah blah and I just go ham I think I got that from my dad sorry Dad if you're watching but my dad you know when he like plays golf gets mad when he talks in third person side note when we play golf we're like the real life happy G more so you never want to see that other parts of Road rid that have always bugged me is you know when you're in traffic and you finally get to the end of traffic and you realized there was nothing there there was just a few bad drivers that weren't paying attention or were driving so slow to cause mile backups I mean that's saying something that's talent right there the way I deal with road rage is I look into the future not like psychic but I just think about the future and how I'll look back at it and be like why would was I really that mad or why was I really that upset when eventually it's going to be all right so like if I'm sitting in traffic I'll find a way to entertain myself just by like kind of looking around you know just focus on your environment around you and not the cars if that makes sense yeah you got to pay attention to drive but you know focus on nature or birds or clouds you be like what's that cloud look like play that old game that's how I kind of cope with it traffic is something that doesn't bug me as much as it used to for sure people cutting me off though I'm I still get upset about that I'm not going to lie to you the best line ever was when somebody almost sideswiped me like change lanes without looking no blinker no look no anything they just were like yep I'm doing it and we get to the next stoplight and I look at them and I just kind of you know whatever and I brush it off and they roll down their window and they go I'm sorry I didn't see you and I'm like how do you miss a bright blue car how do you miss the Smurf I don't know whenever you see somebody get away with some kind of crazy maneuver while you're driving and you're just like that was so illegal you're such an idiot and then you're just like step step it right now and then when you go byy them you just want to be like screw you but some good advice would be if somebody does make you mad on the road Let It Go just Let It Go don't get out of your car don't hard accelerate like I did that was a joke don't do any of that because that's just going to lead to more problems it's going to build up more rage in that other person and then next thing you know you're either going to crash or you're going to be in some lawsuit somewhere where some guy punched another dude too soon Clarkson sorry I I still love you I wish you were on Top Gear still another way I kind of deal with road rage just avoid traffic altogether a lot of the times I'll look at my Google Maps and I'll see that there might be a longer route say like a back road or something like that and maybe it'll take a little bit longer but at least you're moving at least your mind is focused on driving and you're not so focused in the moment this really sucky moment you know driving on a back Ro therapeutic right right right now I'm getting my serotonin from driving this back road it's wonderful the angry moments happen to me on these really long road trips that I do cuz you'll have a really smooth road trip and then something will happen you know power lines fell down or an 18-wheeler tipped over or something just crazy happens and you have to deal with it and then you get a text from a friend going you should have taken this alternate route man I Told You So and you're like yeah but my GPS said this is the fastest way so I defied logic and listen to it you got to have that Zin mindset you know that that very at one spiritual like at peace kind of mindset whenever you're having a road rage moment so with that how do you guys all deal with road rage do you just let it happen do you let the Fire come out of your head or do you just kind of try to stay calm let me know in the comments section Below on how you deal with road rage want to thank every single one of you for watching this Vlog Vlog and I will see you guys next time and take it easy have a fantastic day Vdudes I live in the country now this is awesome and room please ignore all the crap in my back seat it's from all the consistent trips I've been taking recently it's a mess and I know it so it's hard for me to back out of this driveway so I'm going to go country boy and go off-roading an off-roading Mustang who knew what is up guys David here for another vlogg Vlog and I hope that every single one of you is having a wonderful day so anyway let's get to the topic that the title says in the video and that is something I think all of us in the car world and the non-car world have dealt with and what is that it's road rage it's when you're having a bad day and your day just keeps getting worse and it keeps getting worse and it keeps getting worse and then you hop in your car and then every little thing in the world just sucks it's horrible so like I'm driving down the road right now and I'd be mad that the pavement changed color oh that's stupid why would they do such a thing it really brought the road together man big laas joke so okay it could be the old person in front of you who's driving 30 Mi under the speed limit it could be you sitting at a stoplight for minutes it could be the person in front of you not going when the light is green it could be the person who cuts you off without the blinker really that hard to turn your blinker on I mean look at this effort that was so hard here's that funny saying where you can drive as crazy as you want as long as you use your turn signal and people really can't get that mad but it's when you don't turn it on is when everybody gets mad but like I said earlier road rage is typically a root of a problem that's already in your life so like it's like a subtext almost there's an underlying problem that you've had that day or in your life that's just beating you up in your subconscious but then when you get on the road and people just start being stupid which let's just face it there's a lot of dumb drivers out there yeah it doesn't help I'm going to tell you probably my worst case of R rage I've ever had which is funny because not only was it their fault it was my fault so go back 2 years ago and I'm still in college and I still live in a dorm and it's Christmas break I'm ready I've got my semester done I did my finals I did great I'm like wow I made it I'm good time for Christmas break the thing is this is back when I lived in Virginia Beach and I'm now in the Richmond area of Virginia and it's about a 2hour ballpark drive without traffic a lot of the highways they have these underwater tunnels there's the Hampton Road Bridge Tunnel and then there's 664 which is mirac tunnel there's a bunch to these underwater tunnels so with that you go from four lanes or five Lanes to two lanes no boyo everybody congests and merges at the last second and you get the people who cut in front of everybody and go around and they don't wait which is such a that's that's like one thing to start causing road rage it's like dude wait like everybody else don't be that guy and then I go back and I'm like oh I've been that guy before so I sit in that traffic for like 2 2 and a half hours and I'm just sitting there you know ranting and venting about how stupid this is and how Virginia Beach's road infrastructure needs to be worked on and I'm saying this all to myself cuz I'm bored in the car so I finally make it to pretty much the edge of the traffic and I make it to Williamsburg Virginia you know the good old Colonial Williamsburg and then I'd realized I had screwed up and then I touched my pocket right here to make sure that I had everything and I was too stupid to not double check when I was back at the dorm because I was so excited about going home that I had forgotten my phone and I was going to be I was going to be home for like uh almost 2 weeks so I had to have my phone so then David broke bad I pulled a freaking Heisenberg on myself I started venting and yelling and all these I had a bad Tipper at one point in my life a really bad Tipper and so but you know over time you get older you realize it's kind of dumb okay everybody still has their freakouts occasionally but this is by far the worst kind of mental breakdown freakout I've ever had when it came to something small i' had already had all this stress from the finals I've already had all this stress from not sleeping I just wanted to be home and then all of a sudden I realized that I had to drive all the way back so then I sat in another 2 hours of Tunnel traffic came all the way back got my phone sat down watched like an episode of something on TV to like cool down and and then uh made some food drove back home with zero traffic because it was that late at night so when I ever got mad in road rage I would always like talking third person like David you freaking idiot blah blah blah blah blah and I just go ham I think I got that from my dad sorry Dad if you're watching but my dad you know when he like plays golf gets mad when he talks in third person side note when we play golf we're like the real life happy G more so you never want to see that other parts of Road rid that have always bugged me is you know when you're in traffic and you finally get to the end of traffic and you realized there was nothing there there was just a few bad drivers that weren't paying attention or were driving so slow to cause mile backups I mean that's saying something that's talent right there the way I deal with road rage is I look into the future not like psychic but I just think about the future and how I'll look back at it and be like why would was I really that mad or why was I really that upset when eventually it's going to be all right so like if I'm sitting in traffic I'll find a way to entertain myself just by like kind of looking around you know just focus on your environment around you and not the cars if that makes sense yeah you got to pay attention to drive but you know focus on nature or birds or clouds you be like what's that cloud look like play that old game that's how I kind of cope with it traffic is something that doesn't bug me as much as it used to for sure people cutting me off though I'm I still get upset about that I'm not going to lie to you the best line ever was when somebody almost sideswiped me like change lanes without looking no blinker no look no anything they just were like yep I'm doing it and we get to the next stoplight and I look at them and I just kind of you know whatever and I brush it off and they roll down their window and they go I'm sorry I didn't see you and I'm like how do you miss a bright blue car how do you miss the Smurf I don't know whenever you see somebody get away with some kind of crazy maneuver while you're driving and you're just like that was so illegal you're such an idiot and then you're just like step step it right now and then when you go byy them you just want to be like screw you but some good advice would be if somebody does make you mad on the road Let It Go just Let It Go don't get out of your car don't hard accelerate like I did that was a joke don't do any of that because that's just going to lead to more problems it's going to build up more rage in that other person and then next thing you know you're either going to crash or you're going to be in some lawsuit somewhere where some guy punched another dude too soon Clarkson sorry I I still love you I wish you were on Top Gear still another way I kind of deal with road rage just avoid traffic altogether a lot of the times I'll look at my Google Maps and I'll see that there might be a longer route say like a back road or something like that and maybe it'll take a little bit longer but at least you're moving at least your mind is focused on driving and you're not so focused in the moment this really sucky moment you know driving on a back Ro therapeutic right right right now I'm getting my serotonin from driving this back road it's wonderful the angry moments happen to me on these really long road trips that I do cuz you'll have a really smooth road trip and then something will happen you know power lines fell down or an 18-wheeler tipped over or something just crazy happens and you have to deal with it and then you get a text from a friend going you should have taken this alternate route man I Told You So and you're like yeah but my GPS said this is the fastest way so I defied logic and listen to it you got to have that Zin mindset you know that that very at one spiritual like at peace kind of mindset whenever you're having a road rage moment so with that how do you guys all deal with road rage do you just let it happen do you let the Fire come out of your head or do you just kind of try to stay calm let me know in the comments section Below on how you deal with road rage want to thank every single one of you for watching this Vlog Vlog and I will see you guys next time and take it easy have a fantastic day V\n"