The Downsides of Commuting to Work
Commuting to work is something many people find themselves forced to do. Living miles away from where you work is hardly ideal, but if you live in an area where there are very few jobs you have no choice but to look farther afield. It isn’t always practical to uproot your family and move home just so you can be closer to your place of work, and so you face the prospect of having to travel the distance. This can be rather frustrating, as you have to spend longer getting to work than you’d like and the time you spend travelling is time you could have spent doing something more enjoyable.
Thus, you can miss out on vital time with your children and your partner, as you have to leave the house early to ensure you get to work on time, whilst by the time you get home from work your kids might be in bed if they’re young. You have to go to bed early to increase the likelihood that you won’t simply switch off your alarm, roll over and go back to sleep when it’s half five in the morning. It is a real hassle, as you have to take a shower, eat some breakfast and you may have left the house before anyone else has even woken up.
It may not be quite as bad if you don’t have too far to go, but if you have a hundred miles or so to cover and you face the prospect of congested roads or delayed trains, the stress can start to build up. Commuting is very rarely a relaxing experience, as if you drive to work you have to contend with reckless drivers, traffic jams and finding a parking space. Even if you take a train, you are usually unable to chill out and read a book because it is too noisy and crowded.
Then there is the expense of commuting. It might work out cheaper overall for you to stay living where you are, if you live in an area where the cost of living is relatively low, but commuting to and from work certainly isn’t cheap. If you drive you obviously have to pay to have your car serviced and to ensure it’s in good working order; you have to pay insurance and road tax; plus, you have to pay for fuel. Even using public transport probably won’t save you any money when bus and train fares have skyrocketed.
Commuting can be a real pain, but the main thing to remember is that you actually have a job, which cannot be said of many people who find themselves unemployed and who would be only to willing to travel.
