Tips for Taking the Stress Out of Your Morning Commute

(Collaborative Post)

Every morning starts the same: you wake up, get ready, eat your breakfast and think about leaving your house/flat. Until this point, everything is moving nice and smoothly without anything to worry about. 

Then the morning commute begins. 

It’s a source of stress for many of us, meaning we start our days feeling really uptight and tense. For the sake of self-care, you need to figure out how to deal with the stress of the morning commute. 

What can you do to make this a less stressful daily experience?

Don’t rely on public transport

Most of us get super stressed because we rely on public transport in the morning. We need to get a bus, train or tube to work. Some days, there are no issues. On other days, you have delays, strikes and who knows what else?! 

It means that every morning you’re checking travel apps hoping that everything is okay. When there’s a slight delay, your blood pressure goes through the roof and you start getting stressed. 

Stop relying on public transport and the stress will melt away. 

Find alternative ways of getting to work. 

If you can drive, think about driving. If not, find other forms of transport that take matters into your own hands. Get a bike or a scooter and you can get to work in a flash without worrying about train or bus times. You could even get a pair of Moxi Skates to weave your way through everyone on the pavement. The point is, you take control of your mornings by not relying on public transport anymore. 

Plan your journey to account for traffic

If you drive, your biggest cause of stress is the morning traffic. It can make you late while driving you insane. 

The solution to this is simple: plan your journey to account for traffic. Learn when the rush hour traffic begins and leave way earlier than that. If it means you get to work half an hour or an hour early, then so be it. At least you don’t have to deal with the stressful traffic any more. 

Plus, it gives you time to maybe go to a coffee shop for breakfast. Or, if your employer allows, you can start early and leave early - meaning you’ll miss the evening rush hour too! 

See if you can work from home

The best way to remove the stress of your morning commute is by negating it entirely. 

Ask your boss if they’ll let you work from home. Many companies allow this and it could make you better at your job if you explain how stressful the commute makes you. It’ll ensure you’re always on time, and working hard. Some bosses will say it’s okay while others won’t. 

If the commute brings you so much stress that it genuinely starts to be a problem, think about changing jobs. Switch to a job where you can work from home, so there’s never any need to worry again. 

Depending on your situation, any of these three ideas will help you come up with a solution to the morning stress. Now, you have one less thing playing on your mind, letting your stress levels decline.