As we’ve entered a new world of social distancing, many people have drastically changed their commuting patterns, working from home when possible and taking precautions if they have to go to work. Commuting to work is no longer a given. That might be a good thing, though. As this title suggests, I’m not a big fan of commuting. The freeways in the Metro Vancouver area are often gridlocked during rush hour, and the skytrains are often so jam packed that there’s no such thing as personal space. It’s like some kind of mobile mosh pit, but people are all hopped up on coffee, which means they really want to get where they’re going and are willing to go to great lengths (e.g., risking being cut in half by the train doors or being assaulted by passengers when they stop the doors from closing the 3rd time in a row) to get there as quickly as possible. I think this is probably consistent with the experience of many people in large, urban areas.
Commuting can be a huge and insidious waste of time. Consider all of the hours and days of your life lost commuting. If it takes an average of 45 minutes each way, 5 days a week, after a 30-year career, you will have spent 10,800 hours, or 450 days commuting. What if someone came up to you and said, “You’ve got an important decision to make. I’ll give you 450 days (24 hour days) to spend with your loved ones, doing things you enjoy, engaging in healthy activities such as exercising, pursuing hobbies, and getting more sleep, or I’ll make you spend 450 days sitting in your car or on the bus/train. Make your choice.” Unfortunately, most people usually can’t choose not to commute. Sitting on my high horse as someone who can choose to work from home a lot of the time, I feel sad for the many people who must spend hours stuck in traffic every morning, only to do it again on the way home and start the cycle again the next day, over and over. I really don’t know how they do it!
Although working from home is not always the perfect solution, I believe it’s ultimately healthiest to limit commuting. When I work from home, my day goes as follows: I get up at a reasonable time after about 8 hours of sleep, make myself and my wife a nice breakfast, meditate, exercise, have a snack, work, have a healthy lunch, work some more, and end the day with a hike with my wife and dog. Then, feeling refreshed, I make and have dinner with my family, and because I’ve gotten lots of work done (with the extra time I didn’t spend commuting), I avoid the home office until the next day. When I commute to work, I get up at least 45 minutes earlier, still make a nice breakfast for the two of us but don’t really have much time for mediation or exercise, instead spending that time packing my stuff and preparing lunch for work. Then, I frantically rush out of the house to get to the bus or train on time, jostle for a place to sit, and try to balance my book on my backpack while resisting the urge to get work done during my commute. When I get home, I’m usually tired, a little grumpy, less interested in cooking and chatting with my wife in the kitchen, and much more interested in collapsing on the couch. After dinner, I often feel like I have to catch up on email or other stuff that fell by the wayside because of the time I spent commuting (that said, most of the time, I resist that urge). When I think of which routine is likely to enhance my health and well-being in the long-run, commuting loses out big time.
To be continued…
~Alexander L. Chapman, Ph.D., R.Psych.