When I became a consultant, I gave up my commute. Now, together, my husband and I put about 5,000 km (3100 miles) on our car each year. Although that’s great for the pocketbook and for the environment, it did mean giving up a few things.
I no longer have 30 minutes to myself twice a day. No talk radio, no radio tunes. No unwinding in the car on the way home from work.
Wait a minute…unwind in the car? I was fighting bridge traffic, downtown snarls and more. Just driving outside downtown for lunch today reminded me why I quit commuting. It took me 20 minutes to drive about 2 km. And this is in Vancouver, Canada, not Los Angeles or even Toronto.
Sure, I don’t listen to the radio as much as I once did. But I’m not exhausted when I finish work for the day. And, if I do want to listen to music or the radio, I can just pop a disc into my CD player or turn on the stereo.
I could wax nostalgiac about my old commute, but the truth is that I don’t really miss it. Do you?
No! I don’t miss the commute. Not at all. 🙂 I spent from 1.5 to as many as 3 hours in the car. That’s 1.5 to 3 hours that was wasted.