Day 124 of Happiness: Relax!

This may not be a happiness post per say - but it's a post on how I can make myself happier, so I'm gonna say that that counts.

Around the beginning of August we got new bus drivers (they switch drivers about once a year), which seems like it shouldn't be something to get all worked up about.  Actually, you're wrong.  Good bus drivers are imperative when you're commuting 50 miles or so to work...in loads and loads of traffic.  Our last morning bus driver was FAST - he arrived on time every morning, he weaved in and out of traffic, and he rode on the shoulder (which buses are allowed to do).  Our afternoon driver was the same - he got us home in record time.

Enter, new morning bus driver lady.  She's not top quality - she arrives at the bus stop 5-10 minutes late, she does absolutely no weaving, and she sometimes doesn't ride in the shoulder.  This means I am arriving up to 30 minutes late to work every day!  This is a catastrophe - because I have my schedule down to the minute so I can take the early bus home in the evening.  Arriving late every day means that I might have to start taking the later bus in the evening - making me arrive home after 7pm every night, meaning I only get to spend a tiny bit of time with the family.  Do you see how imperative it is that we have a good driver???

Ok, so, now that I've given you the background on my slowing going-insane-mind, I'm gonna tell you about how I'm trying to make peace and find my happiness factor again.  Because, in reality, this lady bus driver is making me miserable.  I find myself sitting on the bus, very anxious, pulling out my cell phone every second to check the time, seething with anger when I realize we're running late AGAIN, etc.  I can actually feel my heartbeat a tad bit faster and sometimes I just want to yell at her to get the bus in the shoulder and ZOOOOOOOOM past all the cars so that I can arrive to work on time!!!!

But, seeing as I'm 30 years old now and don't want to be one of THOSE crazy people, I'm trying to find my zen.  What does that mean?  Well, when I feel myself start to get all worked up I take a few huge breaths and talk myself off the screaming-at-the-bus-driver ledge.  Because, really, nothing actually happens to me when I'm late for work - there is NO ONE  in my office even if I arrive 30 minutes late (which is rare, it tends to be more like 10 - 15 minutes late).  So, it's not like my boss is gonna berate me or anything.  There is actually very little berating that goes on in my office.  I just take a quick lunch rather than relax for an hour, or I stay a bit late once or twice, or I do a bit of work at home.  Not the end of the world, clearly.

And now, I'm thinking of some new options because clearing seething in the back of the bus every morning is not improving my happy stance.  So, I think come September (when all the vacationers come back and traffic goes back to its outrageously large self) I'm gonna have to take an earlier bus to work.  I know, I know, you may not believe that there is actually an earlier bus - since I'm already catching a bus at 6:30am.  But, lo and behold, there is another bus that comes 20 minutes earlier, and another bus that comes even 20 minutes earlier than that and both of them are viable options.

And, if I come in a bit earlier, come winter time I can fit in my lunch-time runs again.  See, so there is a silver lining to all of this right?  I'm working on it anyway.

This just proves to all you people out there that think I'm sickeningly happy all the time, that I'm not.  It takes some work to be calm and smiley - lots of deep breaths.

What do you do to stay calm when you feel like you're about to explode???  Or do you just explode?