Driving is great fun for some people. They love to get behind the wheel, maybe put some music on, and drive wherever they need or want to go. But it’s not such a pleasurable experience for a lot of drivers. Driving can be boring and some people can even find the experience nerve-wracking and frightening. When you don’t enjoy driving, you might try and limit how often you have to get in your vehicle. But this can affect various parts of your life, including your social life and your career. If you want to start enjoying driving more, there are ways you can change things.
Don’t Avoid Driving If You’re Nervous
For people who feel nervous or anxious about driving, getting behind the wheel as little as possible can seem appealing. The less you drive, the less you have to deal with the things that it makes you feel. However, if you avoid driving, it can start to make you feel even more anxious about it. When something scares you, taking the time to get used to it and become more comfortable is a much better idea. Practice makes perfect, so make a point to try and drive more if you feel nervous, not less. With more practice, you should start to feel more comfortable.
Get Comfortable
Being physically comfortable when you’re driving is essential. If driving makes your back ache or leaves you with other aches and pains, you need to make the experience more comfortable. Firstly, you need to ensure your seat is in the correct position. You should make sure you’re not too far away from or too close to the steering wheel and that your legs are in a comfortable position too. You should be sitting upright, and both the headrest and your seatbelt should be positioned comfortably. The heating and air conditioning are also important to help your vehicle feel more comfortable.
Work on Improving Your Skills
Thinking of driving as a chore is a sure-fire way to make sure it’s not enjoyable. If it’s just something that you have to do to get where you need to be, you can feel reluctant to ever get into your car. But if you make it more of a hobby and something that will allow you to build some useful skills, it can be more enjoyable. If you decide to work on improving your driving skills, it can give you something else to do when you’re driving. Plus, you can feel a sense of achievement when you’ve built your skills too.
Create Your Perfect Car Setup
Having everything that you need in your car can make driving much more pleasant. If you have a setup in your car that makes things easier for you and ensures you’re more comfortable, everything will be easier. There are plenty of driving essentials that you can have in your car if you want to improve your driving experiences. Some essential items will help you out if your car breaks down, while others can entertain you and your passengers. A GPS device will ensure you don’t get lost and upgrading your sound system can make your drives more fun.
Don’t Let Other Drivers Spoil Your Fun
It’s easy to get frustrated when you’re driving, especially if it’s busy and you’re stuck in traffic. Other drivers can be particularly frustrating, making your time in the car particularly unpleasant. When other drivers are not behaving well or sticking to the rules of the road, you might feel like you’re going to lose your temper. But getting angry isn’t going to help anyone, especially not you. Although it might be annoying and frustrating, staying calm will prevent other drivers from ruining your fun. Just concentrate on your own driving and use it as an opportunity to improve your driving skills.
Use Your Driving Time as “Me Time”
A lot of people don’t get a lot of time to be on their own. While not everyone likes spending time with their own thoughts, alone time is important for many people. If you’re always surrounded by family, friends, or colleagues, you might struggle to find time when you can just sit and enjoy your own company. But when you’re driving, it can be the perfect opportunity to enjoy some “me time”. You can take the time to listen to music, put a podcast or audiobook on, or just enjoy the silence and think about anything that’s on your mind (while still concentrating on the road).
Go on Road Trips
Much of your driving is probably just to get you to essential places that you need to go. You might drive to work or take your kids to school, or take your car to get groceries. But if you want to make driving more enjoyable, you should consider taking a road trip just for the sake of it. When your main purpose is driving and you’re not going somewhere that you perhaps don’t want to go to, you can find yourself enjoying the drive. It’s even better if you pick a fun destination or plan some interesting stops along the way.
Drive Quieter Roads
Driving on busy roads is often not a lot of fun. You can get caught up in traffic or you have to deal with the behavior of other drivers. If you don’t enjoy driving on the roads where there are many other vehicles, consider seeking out some quieter roads instead. Sometimes it may take longer to choose backroads or find the quieter streets, but it can also greatly improve your experience behind the wheel. Driving during quiet times can also give you a chance to get used to driving and build your confidence. If there’s a route that you need to drive regularly but it’s often busy, try practicing the drive during quieter times.
Think Positively About Driving
Driving may often seem boring, but there are lots of reasons to like it. Even if you don’t particularly enjoy the act of driving, being able to drive yourself anywhere is great. It gives you independence and improves your opportunities for work and more. When you can drive, it’s easier to go wherever you want to, whether out of necessity or just because you feel like it. It allows you to get to work, drive your family around, respond quickly in an emergency, and take a trip to visit people or just to see somewhere new. Thinking about driving in this way can help you to feel a lot more positive about it.
Break Up Your Driving Routine
Driving to the same places all the time can get pretty boring. Going back and forth to the same locations is pretty tedious, especially if you don’t have a lot of variety elsewhere in your life. If you’re bored of the same old routine, mixing things up a bit can help. When you have some spare time, go for a drive just for the fun of it. Or take a different route to get to where you need to go just to mix things up a little. If you want to make other areas of your life more exciting too, seek out new things to do so you have an excuse to drive to new locations.
Learn More About Your Car
Taking more of an interest in your vehicle can also make driving more interesting. If you care about the performance of your car and what it looks like, you can have more of a connection to it when you’re driving. You could take an interest in caring for your car, including both keeping it running smoothly and making sure it looks good. Every driver should know how to do the basics, such as topping up your oil and washing your car. But you could also learn a few more skills, which will not only help you to be more interested in your car but can also save you some money.
Try Some Recreational Driving
If you find driving boring, consider seeking out some opportunities to do some recreational driving. Going on a road trip or out on a drive for fun is one thing, but there are also some purely fun driving activities and sports that you can try. Book a day on a race track so you can really tear around some corners or try out something like rallying so that you focus purely on the fun of driving without really going anywhere.
Drive Less
For some people, the key to enjoying driving is doing it less. If driving doesn’t make you nervous but it does stress you out, the best thing to do might be to try and reduce how much you drive. For example, if you have a long daily commute, it can become very stressful after a while. Even taking the time to enjoy your own company doesn’t necessarily make it a better experience. So finding ways to drive less by reducing your commute or using other modes of transport could be a good idea.
Try Driving a Friend’s Car
Sometimes, it’s not you, it’s the car. Older cars and trucks rarely inspire confidence. Every car has a different driving position and oftentimes it’s just finding the one that fits you right. You’ll get a rush of confidence and know when it feels right.  So go ahead, sample the alternatives! Ask a friend if you can drive their car on some quiet roads (with them in the passenger seat) and you might discover you do love driving, but just hated your old car.
If you don’t enjoy driving, that doesn’t have to be the case forever. You can change it so you look forward to driving instead of dreading it.
Featuring the BMW X6 40i. Read the full review over here.
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