Anxiety On Public Transportation

[Ocean5]

wait longer for a less busy train/bus/whatever to come.

I've done that when I lived in the states. Also, if a train/bus got too crowded for me. I'd get off next stop, and wait for next one.

 

[ghotiff]

Reorganizing your routine to get a less busy bus. Eg, coffee in a shop before work, library visit after work.

For such a long commute, maybe breaking each way up into two sections eg coffee/library vist at the halfway point.

 

[barefoot]

I think @FridayJones makes a good point, especially if you often dissociate. I suspect that trying to distract yourself from your surroundings is probably making you more likely to zone out because you're trying to avoid the thing that makes you stressed but your dissociation then kicks in to take it to the extreme. Dissociating on public transport is horrible - it's disorientating, meaning you can often 'come to' in an unexpected place/having missed your stop etc. But it also leaves you personally vulnerable too - I've dissociated late at night on my own on London Underground before and was pretty shaken by that fact after the event when I'd realised what I'd done. Not a good position to be in.

So, yes...I think maybe leave distraction/avoidance to one side for now and focus on trying to stay engaged in the present - but in a way that you can regulate your anxiety. As Friday suggested, you could do something to somehow turn your journey/fellow passengers into some kind of game/quiz. Snog, Marry, Avoid?? ;-) Or you could try using the journey to practise mindfulness and grounding techniques- force yourself to check in with yourself at regular intervals (set an alarm to go off every few minutes) and do a full 'body scan' or use whatever grounding techniques work for you. So, if it were me, at the check in points I'd be doing things like: sniffing my perfume, putting on hand cream, wiggling my toes, finding all the red/blue/whatever colour things in the train carriage...

This is a tough situation to be in, but you do have choices and there are different things you can try. They might take a bit of practise or be things where you have to change your current pattern/timings etc (like breaking up the journey/killing some time in a cafe so you can get a less crowded train) but hopefully you'll find at least one way that eases your current situation.