Honor Your Commute
(I understand my living and work situation is unique to me and not everyone can work from home or has flexibility and time. I hope this inspires you or anyone out there to just find a minute in your day for YOU).
Remember commuting? Maybe you drove an hour listening to an audio book or took BART or the Subway listening to your Discover Weekly on Spotify. Maybe you were dropping kids off at school, grabbing a coffee, and heading to the office. Or walking to work, enjoying the views, and catching up with your mom. Whatever you were doing, it was likely something other than going through email and Slack, or working on a presentation.
I used to walk to the cable car and take that up and down the hill to my downtown SF office. To this day I think it’s one of the best ways to commute! I loved it so much. I would listen to music or a podcast and told myself NO Slack until I got to work. Some days I’d miss the cable car, look up the intimidating SF hill ahead, then call my sis and have a great walk. I actually loved my commute.
Then the pandemic hit and early March 2020 many of our homes became our offices too. The bookends to the day disappeared and the only thing separating my desk and my bed was an eight foot rug. Like many of us, I started walking and creating a morning routine! I “walked to work” each morning in Alta Plaza Park (one of the most beautiful parks in SF and one that I never went to pre pandemic. Small wins). Did one to three laps, no more no less. I discovered my new favorite podcast Girls Gotta Eat, which made my Monday morning walk extra laugh-out-loud enjoyable. I looked at the cute pups that frequented the park — Kuma the teensie tiny white Maltese being my favorite. I’d mix in calling my sis and Obe Fitness and Peloton workouts. I also discovered the perfect bench for my daily Calm meditation. I subscribed to Trade Coffee for my at home pour over and every other Tuesday enjoyed a bouquet from Matilda’s Bloombox, a local flower delivery helping support local growers.
I starting hearing so many coworkers telling me that they wake up looking at Slack and go to bed looking at Slack. I shared how much I valued this morning walk and started doing a short “honor your commute” presentation during onboarding to hopefully inspire anyone to set digital boundaries and take time for themselves.
So I challenge you to honor your commute!
- Think back to what you did before.
- Reflect on what you do now.
- Have you taken time to do something enjoyable today?
- Set a small goal for this week!
Maybe it’s five minutes or an hour. Dedicate some time for just you! What a gift! We can’t control how much time we have in a day, but we can control how we spend our energy throughout our day.
