Driving

So work has ramped up pretty quickly. I knew it would so I was enjoying the "quiet" days of my first few weeks. And I took advantage of the time, networking and connecting with key people throughout the organization. Which is a good thing, as the person who was acting as the interim director is moving on to another position. It's a good move in the long run for all concerned, but in the short term, there is so much institutional knowledge and relationship building that needs to be transferred. 

As I mentioned before, I looked at my life and identified what can I do in my life to minimize the extra stress I will be experiencing.  And one thing I identified early on was my commute. I wrestled for the longest time about going over to the dark side and driving into work. My commute with public transportation took at least an hour. I found the fastest way in to work was to avoid the bus and ride my bike to the subway, take the subway and then from my subway stop, walk to work which is about 15 minutes. But often the commute would creep over 90 minutes, especially getting home.

I had dropped my vacuum on my big toe last month and it's been healing nicely, but the first week I was conscious of not wanting to put too much stress on it, walking everywhere. And since my commute includes a 15-20 minute walk, I opted to drive into work for a week. And that was the beginning of the end. It took about 20 minutes and that's with traffic.  Summer traffic mind you (it will get worse after Labor Day) but still.  All of a sudden I had an extra hour in my day that was freed up.

My whole career I've commuted to work via public transportation. The last time I drove to work for a job was my summer internship after my sophomore year of college. And that was with my first car, "darling". Aptly named because I'd have to coax her up a big hill that was on my way home and every day I'd try to get a running start but 2/3 up the way, she'd run out of steam and putter along with me cheering her on, "darling, you can do it, you're almost to the top". On hot days, she'd have even less umph.  No AC, so I'd listen to my music - a mix tape of Bob Dillon songs, with the window rolled down, while a line of cars would accumulate behind me. Fast forward to now and I'm living the life with a nice luxury car that handles so smoothly, has AC and is just so comfortable. A far cry from Darling and a big step up from being crammed on a bus, trying to keep my balance as I'm forced to stand and we lurch down the street stopping every 100 meters for traffic.

It's taken awhile for me to transition my thinking. I mean it's been over 20 years since I first started commuting to work using subways and busses. It's my time to get my reading done and ignore the traffic situation, leaving it to the bus driver to deal. When the weather is nice, it's such a beautiful bike ride to the subway and I get a lot of steps is with all the walking. Plus, not only is it nice to reduce my footprint for the environment, I save a ton of money. That's why I've always commuted. 

But, I often am worn out at the end of the day and don't get too much reading done.  Most of the year I can't bike because of the weather - winter, rain or too hot/humid. I get plenty of steps walking during the day with this job, outside of the commute. And so really, it boiled down to money and environment - that's why I was so patient with my commute. Wait, I should clarify that previous jobs, public transportation was the only real option since driving in would take just as long.  Maybe a little less but nothing to write home about (or post on my blog). 

So faced with my new situation, with a job much closer to home and farther from the subway stop.  And a sudden demand on my time with work while wanting to keep a work/life balance. I started seriously contemplating switching. The week I was driving in because of my toe was an eye opener of how big a gap in my two modes of transport. I knew there was a gap and had decided that when I paid off my mortgage, I'd treat myself with a parking pass. I'm younger now than later after all, so now is when I should be doing the harder stuff that would wear future me down faster. I'd rather take the subway in my 40s and drive in my 50s and 60s, than the opposite. 

Well, now I'm rambling and trying to explain myself. My point of wanting to blog is to say I got a parking permit at the beginning of the month and have been driving to work. It's been taking some time to unwire my thinking and what I'm used to. Last night, I was working late to finish a report (I'm taking off this afternoon for a dentist appointment).  And when I was almost home, driving down my street, I was still surprised how quickly I went from desk to door. It was 15 minutes!  And I was struck by how much I have geared myself up when I leave work.  It's like I've been taking a deep breath when I leave work, getting ready to endure a long commute with a lot of waiting, either stuck in traffic, or if it's later in the evening, stuck waiting for my bus or subway to show up. It's like I've tensed up in anticipation of how much waiting I'll have to do and now I'm slowly learning that I can just relax. Relax in the comfort of my own car and not being jostled around.  Relax as I have control over my way home and can just go with the flow of traffic. Relax as I listen to music and podcasts - something I stopped doing years ago because I was concerned about my hearing - having to play things so loudly to hear stuff over the rumble of the subway or street noise of the bus. 

It was just so nice last night to zip home after a long day at work. I still need to figure out the financials and environmental impact. I mean, I can afford it, and if you look at my footprint for this job, compared to my last job, it's so much less because I'm not flying all over for work. But I still have a it more work to unwire 20 years of thinking. The question will be, will I be posting in the future complaining about being stuck in traffic. Who knows, but the nice thing is I live and work in an area where I have a lot of options.