Many years ago (and for the entirety of the first half of my life) I lived north of Manhattan, and briefly – all nine months of it – worked in Manhattan. The commute in the morning was a 10-15 minute drive to the train station and waiting for the train, a 45 minute ride to Grand Central, a 15-20 minute subway ride downtown, and a 10 minute walk to the office. End to end, usually an hour and a half trip.

I now live in a small state and my commute is merely a half hour most mornings. Big difference. Every so often – OK, maybe once a week – someone taps their brakes. Then my commute jumps up to 35 or 40 minutes due to the traffic back-up. These are the times where, when looking at the brake lights of the car in front of me that I wonder why this is called “rush hour”.

For both situation, the commuting situation was the same going home, just in reverse (of course).

It was true on the train rides I could actually read something, or maybe even do some work (this was pre-smartphone days, and laptops weren’t so small and laptop-able). In the car now, I typically listen to the radio. I no longer carpool, so I don’t even have conversations with anyone. But this time commuting is time I’ll never get back.

It is true that some people like the commute. I think. I’m sure there is someone out there that likes it… There are also some that like to use the commute to “decompress” – leave the thoughts, worries, and stresses of the office in the car.

I won’t even go into the expenses of the commute. For one, it is part of the requirement to work. If I want lower commuting expenses, I should move closer to the office. Or find less expensive ways to get there – mass transit (not so abundant in my state), car pooling, more economically friendly vehicle.

When I worked from home during the pandemic, the commute was great. Walk up stairs to the “office” (one of our bedrooms was the office), wake up the laptop, log-in. Two minutes, tops, and I was at work. And it was a really cheap commute too. Coming home was equally fast: log-out, walk downstairs. “Honey, I’m home.”

Pretty much everyone has the problem of the expenses and time spent. But want to know what? I will NOT miss having to commute into the office. I may have to plan appointments and or travel around “rush hour”, but I, for one, will not miss it.