Over spring break, three of my friends and I went to Hilton Head in South Carolina. I loved the pleasant weather, the beautiful nature, our Airbnb with one of the comfiest beds I’ve ever slept in, and, of course, being able to travel by bike to (almost) anywhere we needed. It was a delightful experience, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone considering going.
Going to the airport in Savannah, Georgia, from the Airbnb would only be an hour’s drive. We were leaving for the airport at around 3 PM and were well-rested from the night before, so we didn’t even consider the possibility of falling asleep on the way. Getting a ride to the airport was more complicated than we expected. We tried to get an Uber multiple times, but the app kept crashing. Almost immediately after switching to Lyft, we found an offer cheaper than what we were expecting. Our future driver had given over 3,000 rides and had a perfect 5-star rating. All comments were about the ride being extremely smooth and relaxing, so this seemed like the ideal option.
Our driver seemed like a pretty regular guy. We could feel how comfortable the seats of his car were and felt the smoothness of the ride the comments mentioned. A few minutes after some small talk, the driver told us that most people leave his car more sleepy than when they came in. The rest of the ride was a haze.
I fell into the music he was playing, which was the most relaxing combination of soft rock and blues I’d heard. Again, I didn’t intend to sleep during this ride, and I wasn’t even feeling sleepy in any way, but I began drifting into sleep without realizing it until later. After seemingly a few seconds of this, Ashley (Chen) tapped my shoulder to let me know she could finally remember an important username she forgot while she felt herself falling asleep. We were surprised and joked about this briefly but returned to our own zones a few moments later. I don’t even remember falling asleep, and I have never been able to fall asleep sitting up straight. All I remember is listening closely to the music, feeling immersed, and eventually reaching a state of enlightenment. I wish I was kidding about the enlightenment part, but I genuinely felt all my fears for life washing away on a level I had never experienced before. At some point, I woke up and saw we were 10 minutes away from the airport. For some reason, I felt extremely relaxed and well-rested after this short nap. We got to the airport, and all were confused about what that ride was.
All four of us discussed the situation once we left the car. Apparently, we all fell asleep at around the same time, all having a specific memory about the last song we heard, and we all woke up at the same time, as in 10 minutes away from our destination. In addition, we all felt well-rested, almost like we got a whole night’s rest, and were weirdly giggly right after. So yes, this was not good and could’ve ended so badly. I am so shocked that we didn’t get kidnapped since literally all four of us were asleep.
What really got me was when Ashley, who had constantly said throughout the trip that she could never fall asleep in a car or plane, literally fell asleep next to us. Also, she told us she was actively trying to stay awake to ensure we were safe, even following the directions on her phone to confirm the Lyft was taking us to the right place. Even then, she fell asleep.
At this point, I almost entirely believed we were hypnotized, and after the hypnosis show today, Ashley and I were wholly convinced. Hypnosis usually occurs when an expectation is set about how you will feel. This action was in effect when the driver told us most people feel more sleepy after the ride. Also, hypnosis can help you uncover memories you didn’t know you had and shift core beliefs. In this case, Ashley could remember her login information, and I felt clarity in my fears. We all fell into this trance and snapped out of it simultaneously without a clear cue, and we all felt recharged after. Music supports hypnosis greatly, allowing different brain parts to be activated. The songs the driver played definitely played a significant component in whatever trance we entered because we all came out distinctly remembering what we were listening to.
If you want to get a taste of the songs our driver played for us, Ashley found two of them: Harvest Moon by Lord Huron and Carolina in My Mind by James Taylor. Anyways, I hope I’m wrong about everything, and we actually weren’t hypnotized in a Lyft in South Carolina because if we were, that would be crazy, right?