Stop commuting: reclaim your time.

Time is our most precious commodity. Seems like it’s the something of which there is never enough. What could you do with a little more of it?

While technology has done so much to make our lives convenient, it has found its own profit in getting humans to commit to new behaviors.

In the past, people’s circles were much smaller. Despite the popular imagination of historic life, work from home has been a mainstay of all human history.

More than that, the distance one needed to travel to get the goods they needed was much less. Just as the distance the goods needed to travel was less. But what is it doing to us?

These questions have been approached by thinkers as varied as Buddhist monks to Zizek. In my younger years, I preferred a lofty theory approach to the discussion. These days, I like simplicity.

To borrow from the Buddhist way of thinking to drive home a point, we take on the emotions and feelings of the process of expenditure. The fire burning in the car’s engine is destroying the environment just as it may be a subtle poison to our own ego. The speed and precarity with which it moves maps onto ancient biological processes that trigger anxiety. However, now that anxiety is not as useful.

Amidst a sea of useful inventions, we have lost our way a little bit. We are driving and commuting too much. I would never realistically say give up your car completely! That is silly and ineffective. But, I would say to consider when a commute is unnecessary.

Instead of driving somewhere to walk, find the walkable spaces near you. Plan your trips effectively. Consider trying a new restaurant close to your home instead of a famous one a little further away.

I have been thinking about these things a lot lately. I have a friend who always drives to go hiking. Sometimes I’d like to join them but it’s hard to justify the car time. Giving 10% of my day to the new gasoline God is something I always prefer to resist.