Going for a drive!
One thing I really enjoy in my free time is taking a mindful drive. This starts with me going to Starbucks and buying an iced coffee with milk. I have done this so many times that I know the color the drink should be. Not too light as though there’s a little more milk than I’d like; and not too dark where there’s not enough coffee. A good iced coffee has the perfect brown color. It tastes so good whenever I drink it. The first sip always has that perfect, “ahhhhhhh” feeling. It feels like comfort and familiarity.
I then make sure that I have the perfect music for me to listen to while on another one of my drives. I typically like Country music. I find that I can understand the emotions and feeling the artist is trying to get across. Happy or sad I love it all. As I’m driving, I internalize the tone of the song. I am mindful of what I’m feeling. I have over 750 country songs to listen to, and I have listened to so many country songs over the years, some being the same songs over and over. I have now been able to associate songs with various emotions they illicit. Whether it be a memory it brings up, or a thought that tends to come up. If I want to feel happy, I can simply click the next skip song button on my steering wheel until I find the song to fit my desired emotion. Overall, the music always helps to ground my negative thoughts, and along with the coffee, really energize for day.
I typically drive towards Sheridan Road and then go up and down a couple times, looking at the enormous, beautiful houses along the lake. I imagine what each homeowner on the street does for a living. I always picture a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, or a super successful doctor that has way too much money to spend. I imagine it being some white-haired older person who drives a supped-up Mercedes or Range Rover. I also think about how much free time they have. Do they work so hard every day, those long hours, because that’s what made the successful in the first place. I can also envision how they started. Perhaps they are someone like me who has struggled finding their groove but that they eventually found a passion that made them a great deal of money and provided a steady level of internal peace.
Driving like this also gives give me hope. It makes me appreciate the simple times, while looking to the future with a positive outlook. I find some of my best ideas have stemmed during a drive. Perhaps it reinforces that I am meant to be so much more than a diagnosis and someone who was dealt a tough hand in life. It energizes me like bolt of lightning that cracks out the sky and lights up the whole sky, stretching across the view. Sometimes I like to call friends and family and have good discussion and check in with them. With every drive, I feel things and have thoughts I don’t always feel or realize that certain feelings existed. This also makes me feel that with every drive my self-awareness increases.
Overall, coffee plus good music, combined with steady driving makes me feel better and allows for more self-reflection. I really enjoy the solitude and allowing my emotions to come and go. I never plan out when I decide to go on these drives. Something simply nudges me into taking one if I need a pick me up or am feeling good and I want to do some internal, personal reflecting.