4. Idle hands are the Devil's playthings

One of the reasons that my commute bothers me so much actually has nothing to do with the drive itself. It’s that I spend SO MUCH time in the car when I could be using that time productively to watch Scandal and play 2048 on my phone clean and do chores. So, I have found that by making use of the time I’m commuting, it doesn’t feel like SUCH a waste. I’ve found lots of activities that I like to do while I’m driving that allow me to pay attention to the road and accomplish something at the same time. 

Some of the things I like to do are:

Catch up on reading. 

Well, listening to someone else read at me… Audible is a great way to pass the time. (UPDATE: Overdrive is an even better way to pass the time. Get the app. You check out books from libraries... Check it out.)  I love to read, but never have the time. It isn’t quite as satisfying as a real book, much in the same way that Kindle isn’t as satisfying, but it seriously gets the job done. My only advice is to get light-reading type books; this isn’t the time to conquer War and Peace. You’ll miss parts of the book when driving gets serious like navigating a detour or construction, if it’s boring that defeats the purpose, and if you’re too into it you’ll miss your exit because you’re now driving on autopilot because you’re in another world. Make sure it’s happy too. Sobbing and driving is probably pretty dangerous.

Exercise.

There are a lot of exercises you can do in the car. I’m not suggesting that they’re as effective as one of those gym sessions that people Instagram about afterwards with their red sweaty faces, but it’s enough to feel like you’ve done something good for yourself.

Obviously, please be safe while driving, and don't do anything that will distract you. But, if you can manage safety while driving, you can get some ideas of exercises to do in the car here, here, here, here, here, and here. Or make something up of your own!

Develop some skills.

Like mad skillz, yo. There are all sorts of skills I like to work on while I’m driving. 

• Singing. 
• Sometimes I actually sing for real with certain songs, but frequently I practice my fake-opera singing. 
• Dancing. 
• I like dancing in my seat. I invent new seated dancing moves all the time. 
• Whistling. 
• I’m really not very good at it, but I do it anyway. I think it’s fun.
• Impressions and accents. 
• Any time someone is on the radio that has an accent I repeat it. I also do all the impressions I can. My favorite at the moment is the commercial for… I don’t know maybe Williamsburg? It has the woman talking to the pirate… I try to make the pirate noise as well as he does at the same moment. It’s super fun.
• Silly faces. 
• This is my favorite skill. My husband introduced me to it, actually. One day we were driving somewhere, and I guess he got a wild hair up his ass and he just looked at the guy next to us made a ridiculous face. I laughed about that for the next 45 minutes. I couldn’t stop, it was friggin’ hilarious. Also, I realize that I have only one ‘silly face’. If you look at my Facebook, I’m making the same face in all of the Silly Face sorority photos I’m in. I decided that silly faces are an area of weakness for me, and decided to employ Husband’s thing of making faces at other drivers. It makes everyone laugh, usually. And regardless of their reaction, it makes me laugh. It’s a fun habit, I suggest you get into it. I just make different faces at people to make sure that I have a solid repertoire of silly faces.

Keep in touch with family and friends.

I need to get better about doing this one, but it’s a nice defined chunk of time that you have set aside that you’re not doing anything else. It’s a great time to call those people. The ones that you want to talk to but never find the time, and the ones that say “you never call me” every time you call them.

Next cliché.

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