Time to put on your Miss Cleo hat and look into the future. I want you to know how to predict the future so that you have less stress in your life. 

Predicting the future really just comes down to realizing what can happen throughout your day, what your reaction will be, and knowing you have a choice on how to handle it. I will tackle one of the biggest stress producing daily activities, driving.  

You should already know that you WILL come across someone who is driving like an idiot. Before you even start your car, get this into your head. You are preparing yourself for seeing this happen already, so you should know how to handle yourself when you do. 

Typically, when someone is making poor choices on the road, you cuss and get angry at what this person is doing or what they did to you. Maybe they cut you off or didn’t signal before turning. Maybe they are driving too slow or they _______ (fill in the blank). Your stress levels will increase, which can make you start driving faster or more aggressive, and now you will become the next driver making poor choices. 

When you know you will come across one of these people, you can stay calm and simply shake your head, pat yourself on the back (wait, put your hand back on the wheel), and be amazed at how you knew that was going to happen.

Even if you feel your stress levels start to rise, you can work on some deep belly breathing to keep you calm. This will bring you back to down to your ‘rest and digest’ mode, instead of ‘fight or flight’.   

You will stay calm and be a better/safer driver. 

Once you start doing this with one daily activity, start doing it with others. Maybe there is something that happens at work everyday that makes you mad. Prepare yourself ahead of time that it is going to happen, and if it does, you know you have a choice on how you react. You can get angry…..or stay calm and laugh about how predictable that was!  

When you start predicting these things and choosing the right way to react, you will start to have less stress in your day to day life. That is always a good thing.

So, what do you see in your future?