Embracing Long Commutes: Finding Positivity Amidst Traffic

Bangalore has become synonymous to traffic and long commutes. It’s a daily struggle for most of us. While a small bunch of lucky folks get the forever work-from-home option, the rest of us have to commute every day, or at least 3 days a week. There are a small bunch of folks who live close to work commuting for less than 30 minutes. Rest of us, well, we are in for the long haul. Couple of months back, our office moved to “far away land”, down south from north and this moved me from the “It takes me 15-20 mins to office” to “On a good day it takes me 1 hour 15 mins in the morning and 1 hour 45 mins in the evening” category.

No one in their sane mind likes the long commute, it’s just a waste of time & energy. We could rather do something fruitful instead, or so the argument goes. I feel the pain if that something fruitful is spending good time with friends and family, and not to binge watch something on TV and mobile phone. I had been wondering how to take this long commuting experience in a positive way (Probably reading so many self-help books did have some good effect after all!). I have gone through this experience now for couple of months and can safely say that there are some positive take aways.

Discipline: Yes, discipline. Some folks who moved along with me have brought this up too. There are two aspects to this. First is the discipline to stick to your regular morning routine even though one needs to leave home early. Second is the discipline to plan and execute the day’s work efficiently, knowing that there is a “hard” logout time. I used to start my 5k run at 6 am, now I need to start by 5:30am. I always wanted to wake up at 5am, and now the new situation gives me no choice. Previously when I lived near to work, I had the luxury to go to office any time and extend my stay for more time. There was no sense of urgency, normally, and at times efficiency got impacted. With the new situation, we value time more and ensure the expected job is done before the 5pm logout time.

Conversations with co-passengers: We are lucky that our company organizes cabs that pick us up and drop us back home. This is a luxury I feel, quite evident when we look at all those folks cramped up in local buses, or waiting at crowded bus stands. A sedan picks the 3 of us, and we are enroute a long commute – some new topics to talk about or continuing the previous day’s conversations. People who know me personally know how much I like to talk (I do listen as well!). So, one of things we can do is to strike up conversations with our co-passengers. If you know them already, very good. If you don’t know them, it’s even better – this means some new topics to discuss, something new to learn maybe, fresh perspectives of life and work.

Listen to Music: People love music and enjoy it as a backdrop for a host of activities. Be it doing exercise, daily chores, and travels. I wrote a blog Music for the soul glorifying the sense of hearing, and the pleasure of listening to music, a long time back. I recently tried listening to my favorite songs during the commute, and suddenly the trip became pleasurable. Sitting in the comfy confines of an air-conditioned car, listening to the soul touching music, well, that’s a great way to spend a quality “me” time I would argue.

Listening to podcast: One of blogs I have written in the past You need 5 hobbies is about the need to have hobbies to satiate five different aspects of one’s life. We need hobbies to build knowledge and evolve our mindset. Podcasts can be a rich source of knowledge and perspectives. Several podcasts enrich our thoughts and knowledge. I love history and geopolitics, and there are ample podcasts on the same, and I was able to get up to speed on several topics. I had never listened to podcasts before, as I usually drove myself and didn’t include this in my other routines, there was always something else worthwhile to do, or so it felt. And now, somehow, I see myself looking forward to the long commute, to continue on that amazing podcast, guilt-free.

Catch up on some sleep: Well, I have seen lot of my co-passengers taking a nice power nap during the long trip. I am not that lucky to catch a wink, but it sure seems possible. If you are able to take a nap in a moving car, amidst some honking, brakes and what not, consider yourself very lucky. Although it’s not the best position for the body, hopefully the mind gets a decent rest. A lot of people have been catching up on sleep since their 10+ years of long commute, so you can say it’s a tried and tested approach!

Gyaan from the drivers: We must also realize that the cab drivers are always on the move, negotiating the painful traffic conditions, day in, day out. Yeah, it’s their work, but still, they have to go through it every day. I enjoy conversations with them and am always fascinated by their unique mindset. In one case, when folks were cutting us in between, some not giving way, some hastily driving and I cribbed, this cab driver calmly told “Sir, there are all kinds of people in this world, we must realize that and drive, we cannot get frustrated by that” – a great philosophy to leadership as well, I thought. In another case, when I asked a driver how he was able to get up so early, drive so long and pickup/drop employees, most of the times with smiling face, his answer “Sir, we need to do our work properly so that you can do your work well” – perfect embodiment of the tagline “Everybody has a role to play!”, another thought to be applied to leadership.

Enjoying boredom: As Michael Easter put it in the comfort crisis book (check my book review here), getting bored is a great way to get the creative juices out of our minds. People have told me they have tried to meditate during the commute, although frequent honking and breaking will take its toll on this routine. However, I must say that driving around in Bangalore is anything but boring. There is always some action, someone cutting you, vehicles parked in main road, vehicles broken down leading to traffic jams. Accidents along the way and folks arguing, weird characters on the streets, etc. But, while you can, just look out, maybe up above on the sky (look out for beautiful colors in the evening ride!) and enjoy getting bored.

There are no two ways about it: Long commutes are a big pain. Especially in the crammed roads and slow-moving traffic. Taking away the sense of freedom (living closer to home in case of emergency) or health issues like backpain due to long sitting position and commuting on pothole filled roads. However, as most successful people advise us, if we “Control what we can” and see how we can take this long “downtime” positively, making it somewhat productive, we might actually get something out of it. Do let me know if you have any thoughts or other interesting ideas to manage long commutes. Happy commuting!