If you are living in a big city, you probably travel at least quarter of an hour to your destination. Sometimes the time is even longer. Often this makes you feel like this time is lost and you’re stuck on the train, waiting to get where you’re going to.

On top of everything, subway rides are sometimes awkward if you don’t have some amusement. Then you meet the eyes of the other people that also don’t have amusement during the ride and you just stare at each other. People are mutually looking at their clothes, hairstyles, makeup and this can get disturbing and stress at one point. As long as you don’t have something more interesting to do. If it is a short ride, you can always check your emails and social media accounts. If the trip is longer, though, you need to get more creative.

Sunglasses

If it is a daytime, it’s perfectly fine to just put your sunglasses on however the light in that train is artificial. The sunglasses have always been and will be a barrier between you and the other world. You can even close your eyes during the ride and feel perfectly fine about it. Just make sure you don’t fall asleep. This is just an extra nap.

Smartphone

Checking up emails and social media accounts is the classic thing to do while on the subway. But there are only so many things you can do on your phone. Scrolling down the feed may get stressing and annoying at one point. But you can always do something else and more interesting on the web or even offline. Some of the activities include apps for coloring books, games (with muted sound of course) like Tetris, that activates some specific centers in your brain and makes it work better, Scrabble or just some casual game online.

Music

Blocking all the noises and replacing it with the sounds you like is one of the best ways to mute the world and just see the pictures of it with your music selection as a background. Sometimes, depending on the song you have picked up, it can get very creative.

Reading

A book or a Kindle is always a great idea. It is a pretty decent way to isolate yourself from the world around you and get inspired and involved in a story. You can combine it with some headphones for even stronger effect.

Stress balls

Stress balls are a really good tool to reduce your stress levels, even just a ball can help you a lot. 

Thoughts

In the subway trains, the oxygen levels sometimes are lower than we are used them to be. This often might be a premise for anxiety and discomfort. Just make sure you keep your thoughts high and if you’re bored or feeling nervous, just start thinking about all the people you love and all things you’re thankful for. This is always relaxing to do and works not only when on the subway.

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