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by danielvaughn 1512 days ago
When I lived in NYC, my commute was about 45 minutes. As much as everyone hates long commutes, I found that to be a very ideal amount of time to decompress from work. It's different when you don't have to drive; standing or sitting on a train is much more relaxing.
3 comments

Driving is very stressful, and inherently risky (most people a cramped up in their car). Also, 45 minutes of walk is near ideal to get endorphins (AFAIK).

I try to double fork my commute, either explore some new path or do some groceries so the 45minutes are not just walk/train.

Right now I do bike - train - bike (but, surprisingly, trains are unreliable this month .. they're the one making me late :)

I started biking to work (only 3 miles) and after a year I switched to walking because I found biking wasn't giving me enough time to separate "home" from "work". Even during Covid, my wife would kick me out of the house for thirty minutes after work so I could decompress. The difference between "coming down stairs" and "coming home from work" were night and day.
It’s a mental interregno.