Each day I drive an hour to Trenton and then an hour (or sometimes longer) back home to Tinton Falls. Once a week, I go from Trenton right to West Long Branch for the class that I take in communication. Some people who make a similar commute may suggest that it really isn’t an hour from Tinton Falls to Trenton and back, but rather that it’s more like 45 minutes – which is true, assuming that there is no traffic and you’re going 75mph the entire time. However, like all morning and rush hour commutes, it is rare that you don’t hit traffic on the road.
In particular, there are three things that I hate about my commute. First, I hate the length of time that I’m in the car because it really is wasted time. Second, I hate the additional expenses in fuel and maintenance costs for traveling so much. And third, I hate the fact that the commute completely exhausts me every morning and every afternoon.
It would be great if I could find a job that was similar to the one that I have now, but located in Monmouth County. However, that’s very unlikely to happen any time soon so I’m out of luck. I’ve always been taught that you typically change careers several times in your adult life and there is a possibility that I could be ready to change careers. Yet, I’m making okay money where I’m at and doing a job that I somewhat enjoy, so I don’t see the need to switch careers at this point. Plus, the only other occupation that I’d rather have right now is to be a college professor. In order to do that, though, I’d need to go back to school and get a doctorate degree and I’m not overly interested in going through that at this point in my life.
My job is somewhat flexible in terms of the commute in that they let me work from home each Friday. This is a great feature because I can run errands in the morning and do tasks in my home in the afternoon, but it still means that I’m wasting more than 8 hours each week by sitting in a car. And it’s not like I can even be productive during those 8 hours because the cell phone that I currently have has a broken 3.5mm ear jack port. Sure, I could use a Bluetooth connection, but it seems to me that no one can ever hear you clearly on the other end of those things.
So, if you have any tips on how to hate my commute less, I’m all ears…
