My Favorite Place

My favorite place to be is in my car, driving anywhere.

I often go on late night drives to calm my mind, or at least that's what I tell myself as an excuse to go. In reality, driving stimulates my thoughts. I find my head filled with ideas and daydreams. It is an addictive feeling. 

Some nights I struggle to sleep. I find myself awake, too tired to do anything productive, but unable to fall asleep because of what feels like an all-consuming orb of energy that demands my attention, yet is impossible to grasp. Sometimes I feel like my brain is radiating with energy, anxiety, negative emotions, restlessness. It often feels like I have a hundred million thoughts bundled up tightly into a ball bouncing around the walls of my head. These individual thoughts demand my attention but are intertwined too tightly to unravel and understand. It is nights like these that I grab my keys and head out the door. I get in my car, turn on my music, and soak in the sound of the beginning chords or beat. I allow the music to wash over me like a healing rain of harmonious sounds. 

The music is not enough to relax me. I feel tense, stiff, tired, and anxious. I put on my seatbelt and start driving. I prefer the highway most nights, although sometimes I am too sleepy for that. On those nights, I'll take the backroads and drive around town. The music doesn't always help me feel much better, rather it becomes an outlet for my chaotic emotions and thoughts. I think my brain is a stranger with an innate connection to music. My brainwaves mimic the music, singing me a song of excitement and energy. Sometimes it is enough just to listen to this song, whether or not I understand the strange lyrics. 

(Image Information: Night Road, Flickr)

But I don't only drive at night. Lately, I have taken to driving during the day, as a way to soothe my anxiety before work. I work dinner shifts at a restaurant, and I have a hard time managing my stress levels these days. My solution has been to take off and drive for an hour. I put on some music that makes me happy, and I try to become more positive before my workday starts. I must admit it doesn't always work that well, but regardless I enjoy driving and it can be a fun way to treat myself. 

(Image Information: Oklahoma Morning Road, WordPress)

There is not a time of day that I don't enjoy driving. It is my guilty pleasure, a habit I must force myself not to succumb to during my free hours. If I didn't have responsibilities I would spend all of my days driving around aimlessly.