Last week, if I had left my house at 7:30 AM, I would've been treated to a congestion free commute to work lasting 40 minutes for a 30 mile drive. Today, I get the school traffic that will complicate the morning and afternoon commutes. It will add another 10 to 15 minutes to the drive, and all of that within the first 10 miles of the drive.
Why do I accept it? Because I chose where I live.
Should I have moved closer to work? Should I find a new job closer to home?
Having house closer to work would make my quality of life better. Less taxing on the cars. Less money spent on gas. Less aggravation caused by the traffic. More time to sleep. More time to eat breakfast. More money in the pocket.
How is your daily commute, and would you change it for the better or worse?
The longest it's ever taken me is 15-20 minutes because of school zones and actually driving the 35 mph speed limit.
The first thing I learned in moving here was to slow down to the lazy crawl of small town life. But I would say that even when I lived elsewhere, that close proximity to work was a plus. Unless you have deep roots to your neighborhood. For instance, I loved living in South Miami and didn't mind the hour long drive to North Miami. Because no one in their right mind would trade living in lush and vibrant South Miami. (at least not me)
A long commute for me would just turn into "time to listen to that audiobook or learn a new language in that hour long commute."
But now I'm spoiled. I like to sleep. And five minutes to work is all I will accept. So that extra hour to get in some intelligence building activity just doesn't happen. Maybe my intelligence is suffering and I'm getting dumber cuz i live in a smaller less bustling place. LOL
aha but sleep makes you live longer. so there!
But since I get to make my own hours and do pretty much whatever I want to do, I'm not complaining.
I should move.