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It’s The “Tiny Stress Triggers” That Drive You Mad
How Simple Behavioral Changes Make A Big Impact
Everyone who drives a car hates this experience.
Imagine you’re driving on a busy road. Traffic crawls. Your frustration grows. You see a car pull up alongside of you on a merging lane or shoulder. You know what he’s trying to do. He wants to cut as much of the line as possible. You don’t want him to cut in front of you so you inch up to the car in front of you. It’s a statement to the cheating driver.
“You’re not getting in front of me.”
Now it becomes a game of chicken. Who will blink first? Sometimes you win. The cheating driver gives up and looks for easier prey. Other times he’s too aggressive and you let him in. Either situation is stressful. Even if you win you feel a sense of angst.
“Who does this asshole think he is?”
The Experiment
I’m on a mission to reduce stress. It’s not the big things that stress me out like money and relationships. It’s the little things. The car that cuts in front of me. A long line at the coffee shop. A last-minute meeting that appears on my calendar. Emails flagged as “high importance” when they’re not.
