Today I discovered that a car (even an inexpensive one) can tell you that you’re stressed out.
I got in my car to go to a meeting and adjusted the seat position and mirrors perfectly. Fifteen minutes later, I could no longer see out the back in the rearview mirror.
But my car hadn’t changed a bit. It was me.
I had just finished what I like to call the Gauntlet… a left-entrance freeway merge to a right-hand exit across five lanes of traffic in about a mile. It’s rarely easy, and this time it must have been particularly bad, because I found myself physically contorted after the experience. And I’m not sure I would have noticed how stressed I’d become if I hadn’t been in the car. It gave me simple feedback, and reminded me to breathe, relax my shoulders and calm down.
I’d like to think my presentation at the meeting was better because I was able to recognize and ease my stress. That’s hard to judge, but I know my neck and shoulders thanked me later!
Has anyone discovered other simple tricks for recognizing stress? Please share, they can help us all!
Postscript: the Gauntlet is even worse in the reverse direction (a shorter distance to get across the five line freeway), but there is an alternative route… and I decided to use it on the return trip — sparing myself a double-stress day 🙂
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