The Long Road Ahead
Chapter 1
by Realm_of_Mindfulness
“How long have we been on the road?” Leah asked, rubbing her eyes and stretching as she awoke from a car nap.
Morgan sighed, “not long, maybe an hour or so I think.” The silence broken by her passenger's inquiry.
Morgan enjoyed long drives. She enjoyed traveling, and she did enjoy Leah as well. It's just in the car, well, it was like driving with a child: lots of “are we there yet” and overall boredom that when acted upon, got tiresome rather quickly.
“Where are we going again?” She asked, still groggy and fixing her bed hair.
“The bowling tournament in Tampa, Leah. I told you this already.” Morgan said with a bit of annoyance toward her friend.
Leah sat up “okay, geez sorry.” She sighed and directed her attention toward the scenery outside her window.
Morgan sighed, “No, I’m sorry. I’m just overwhelmed and nervous. I’ve got a lot on my mind, and I didn’t mean for that to come out the way it did.”
Leah shook her head as she smiled slightly. “I know, I know, it’s okay. Why don’t I drive the rest of the way hon? Let yourself relax without worrying about us getting there safely.”
She thought about it for a second, before subtly agreeing with a nod, and veered off the highway at the next exit they found, pulling into a nearby gas station.
After filling their car with gas and snacks, the girls pulled away and made it back to the highway just as it started to rain. Leah, humming softly along to her Spotify playlist as she drove, and Morgan, trying (and failing) to quiet her fast-paced brain by munching away on a bag of Funyuns.
Leah glanced between her addled friend and the road ahead. “You know, I read somewhere it can be helpful for anxiety to point out certain things depending on your senses. They called it ‘grounding’ or something like that.”
“We’re kind of on the road right now, Leah, and it’s raining. Our options for that are kind of limited if you hadn’t noticed.” Morgan stated a bit sarcastically.
Leah giggled a little at that “yes hon. I was just saying maybe we could do a version of it or something. You can’t be the only person on earth who’s ever had to calm their brain function in the middle of a road trip. Maybe instead of all that, you pick one thing to focus on.”
Morgan sat up a bit curious, but still skeptical of the idea. “Oh? And just what should I focus on, oh wise one?”
Leah rolled her eyes at the crack but couldn’t help but smile at it. “I don’t know, the cars going by? The long, endless line of trees? The windshield wipers? You’re the one stressed, you pick.”
Morgan sighed. “I guess the windshield wipers since the others are either inconsistent or hard to see because of the rain.” She let her eyes settle on the blades clearing the glass in front of her. “Now what?”
Leah turned the wipers to a steadier motion to help. “I mean I thought it would be self-explanatory. Watch the blades go back and forth, try to sit still and follow them only with your eyes, allow them to pull your focus from your overwhelmed brain to only the blades. Don’t worry about anything else, just kinda focus only on the wipers, and let me talk you through it if that helps.”
Morgan sat back and sighed. She didn’t really think this would help, but she still found herself following along as her friend walked her through the idea.
“Like I said hon, just put all your attention on the wiper blades in front of you. Don’t really worry or think about anything else right now. Sure, your head is going a mile a minute, but you can just ignore all that and simplify things by following the blades and listening to me. That’s really all you need to do right now is use your eyes to watch the blades, and your ears to listen while I talk you through this, okay?”
“Okay...” Morgan nodded and followed along. As doubtful as she was about all this, she had to admit to herself her friend’s voice did sound kinda nice, and it did quiet things down in her head a bit.
Leah continued as she noticed Morgan’s leg shaking had stopped almost completely. “Well there ya go. Just keep things nice and simple. Use your eyes to watch the windshield wipers, and your ears to listen to me. That’s all you need to worry about for right now.” She continued repeating the same things for a few more minutes, and as the rain began to slow, she brought the windshield wipers to a slower, less consistent pace. “So? Did it work or no?”
No response. “Hey, did you hear me? I asked if it worked.” Leah looked over at her friend still staring straight ahead. “Helloooo? Earth to Morgan!” She waved a hand in front of her face, then quickly swerved back into her own lane when the car started to drift.
Leah herself started to worry. Did she break her friend somehow? Did it work too well? Why wasn’t she responding to her? “She better not be playing with me right now, especially after that was to help her out” she said to herself. “Morgan is this a joke? Are you messing with me right now?”
“No” Morgan replied, her voice flat and monotone.
Leah jumped at the response. She didn’t expect an answer after she didn’t answer the first couple times. She certainly didn’t expect her to sound so emotionless. She tried again, “Morgan, are you relaxed? How do you feel?”
“Yes, I am relaxed.”
Leah muttered to herself “yeah, I guess it worked too well”. She continued to drive for a moment in silent thought before she got the idea to test something. “Hey Morgan, you’re really relaxed right now, right?”
“Yes, I am relaxed.”
“How relaxed are you?” She asked her friend.
“I am very relaxed.”
Leah continued her line of questioning “How did you get so relaxed?”
“I listened to your voice and watched the windshield wipers.”
“So....you’re listening to my voice now?”
“Yes”
“And it’s making you feel even more relaxed”
“Yes”
At that moment, Leah had an idea. “So as you listen to my voice, you’ll do whatever I tell you?”
“Yes, I will do whatever you tell me.”
She thought for a moment. “Prove it. Raise your arms into the air.”
Morgan raised her arms as high as the car would allow her to. Leah saw her bellybutton piercing peek out from under her top as she did.
“Okay put them down.” She watched as her friend’s arms plopped down into her lap
“Hmmm....Oh, I know. Morgan, roll your window down. Let the wind blow in your face.” Leah knew she HATED her hair being messy but needed a real test to see if this was a joke or not. Sure enough she watched as Morgan’s window rolled down, and she nearly stuck her head out the window to let the wind blow through her hair and into her face.
After a few seconds of that, Leah had her friend roll the window up. “Holy shit...” she said to herself. She couldn’t believe this happened. Sure, she’d read about this kind of thing before, but only briefly, and she never imagined it’d actually happen, much less to her best friend. She noticed they were almost at their exit. “Guess I can’t have her showing up to the tournament like this.”
Finally realizing the rain had stopped, Leah turned the windshield wipers off. “Morgan, listen to my voice and keep relaxing to the sound of it. The windshield wipers have stopped, but you can continue to relax from the sound of my voice, can’t you?”
“Yes”
“Okay, good. Now, when I park the car in a moment, I want you to come out of this relaxed mindset you’re in. You’ll feel very well rested and no longer anxious or panicking about anything. You will also have no memory of any of this. You will only remember I helped you calm down and how nice you think my voice is to listen to. In fact, the next time you start to panic, you will come to me to help you relax again. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I understand Leah”
Leah turned the car off the highway. Thankfully, the bowling alley wasn’t that far from it. In the meantime, she spent that time repeating the instructions, just to make sure Morgan got them all. She finished the last repetition as they pulled into the parking lot, and Morgan finally came to.
She rubbed her eyes and stretched, “mmm what happened? Did I fall asleep?”
Leah nodded, “you were out once I finally got you calmed down. See? Told you it would help.”
“Yeah, guess so. Oh hey, we’re here.” Rubbing the last bit of grogginess from her eyes, Morgan stepped out of the car. “Thanks, guess I owe you one.”
Leah walked to the back and helped her friend get her equipment out of the back. “Don’t worry about it hon, that’s what I’m here for.”
The girls walked inside together to get set up for the tournament. ‘Maybe while she’s bowling I can look into this relaxation stuff a bit more.’ Leah thought to herself. ‘I have a feeling this won’t be the last time it happens...’