Commuting Denial

Reading Will Wilkinson's post on commuting made me think about my old commute.

When I swapped the Microsoft commute (30-60 minutes) for the Amazon commute (10-25 minutes) I felt much happier. I knew the Microsoft commute was stressful and time consuming, but I probably kept it up for 8 years partly through denial.

Between National Public Radio and books on tape you can think of the commute as a learning experience. The perception is also that a good job is worth commuting to and that commuting is just part of the lifestyle.

When I started working in Seattle itself, I felt so much better. It wasn't the time gain so much as the lowering of stress when the freeway commute was removed. Stop-start traffic on a freeway gives you no time to relax, whereas traffic lights let you lower the awareness level at red lights. Another factor was the freedom to leave at any time and not have to a heavy rush hour cost.