When living in, or around, Washington, D.C., it is inevitable that you will end up driving the Beltway more times than you can count. The Capital Beltway, or Interstate 495, is the major highway that surrounds the capital and the suburbs of Maryland and Virginia. No matter what day it is or what time it is, this road is notorious for traffic due to congestion and accidents that occur extremely often. Driving this road creates 10 distinct emotions that you'll cycle through depending on how bad your experience was.
1. Excitement
If you're going on vacation somewhere or just traveling to D.C., you're probably super excited. You don't know what adventures await you or what funny stories will come out of this trip, but you can't wait to get to where you're going because you know how much fun it's going to be.
2. Dread
As you're driving, you can see a sea of red taillights ahead of you and you know what is coming: traffic. Your stomach sinks as you accept your fate, knowing that you can't get off on an exit and that you just have to stick it out because it's the only road you can take to get there.
3. Frustration
You begin to notice how nobody knows how to drive and start to get annoyed and frustrated at everyone else around you. Why can't people understand that the rules of the road don't change just because you're in a hurry? Just be patient, everyone will understand if you're late due to traffic.
4. Boredom
After barely moving for around 30 minutes, you start to get a bit bored. It's easier when you have friends in the car with you, but being by yourself is extremely boring. You'll start doing anything to keep yourself awake and focused, even if this means dancing to the song playing on the radio while other people around you stare at you.
5. Fear
When the flow of cars is actually moving, and not at a standstill, fear begins to creep into your mind. I cannot count the number of times that I've seen someone doing around 80 miles per hour on the same road as me. The fear of getting into a terrible accident while driving the Beltway is incredibly high and makes me want to never drive again.
6. Loathing
The only thought I have when in bumper-to-bumper traffic is "Why are there so many people?" and I can't help but to get annoyed at everyone. I suddenly hate everyone and want them all to disappear because they're just angering me further and making me want to move to a rural house in North Dakota so I never have to deal with traffic again.
7. Stress
Driving stresses me out more than taking an exam does. This stress increases the minute I get on a highway where a thousand things can go wrong and ruin my day. I know that I can't make everyone else disappear, but it'd definitely help reduce the anxiety that I have about being late to something or missing my exit because I can't change lanes.
8. Hostility
I have no remorse when I don't let someone in because they decided to try and cheat the system by driving on the shoulder then trying to cut back into the lane. I will not let you in, because you should have waited like everyone else on the road. No one is getting there faster, and we all have important things going on. But don't think that I'm going to be nice to you if you try to cut me off.
9. Exhaustion
After being stuck somewhere for a long time or even just driving the Beltway for a little while, you feel completely drained. It's even worse when you know you're less than 10 miles away from your destination but it takes over two hours to get there. After being on the Beltway, all I want to do is sleep.
10. Relief
The moment that you get off at your exit is the best moment ever. You feel so happy that you're finally off of I-495 and that you can breathe easy knowing that it shouldn't take you too long to get to where you're going now. Except for the fact that there's an accident on this road as well, and the cycle begins all over again.
