My mother, a widow with 4 kids and a full time job, used to "go out for a ride" on a weekly basis at night after we got old enough to look after the younger ones. As kids, we thought this was really weird. Was she meeting someone? No.
As an adult, I finally got up the courage to ask her what she used to do on those rides. Her reply? "I sang, screamed or cried in the car depending on what kind of week I had".
She said that in the dark, with little to no traffic to see her, she could just drive around the back roads and get out her frustrations and emotions and come back to us a better mother. She said it didn't help anyone to see her very very mad or very very sad, and it was unhealthy for her to keep all that bottled up inside. It was her stress reliever!
When she was happy, she'd sing at the top of her lungs. When the week had been particularily mean, she'd scream the same way because no one could hear. Sometimes she'd just sit on the side of the road and cry because she didn't want us to see and get upset.
She'd come home calm and ready for some time with her kids.
Too many people these days are so stressed with life and work in general that they often don't think of how their moods can affect their families and their own health. They keep their emotions bottled up until they explode.
Did we ever see her mad or sad? Of course. We gave her plenty of reasons. But our memories of her are sweet, and the lessons she taught have stayed with us.
So if you see a woman in a burgundy van on the expressway at night singing at the top of her lungs to Phantom of the Opera, it's me...and it's been a great day!
I suggest you try this stress buster, because it sure works.
PS: Caution: never cry and drive at the same time.
Comments(5)