The Short Commute & The Donut Shop

I have worked for over 35 years in the Silicon Valley and have commuted at least one hour, one way, for all of my working years, except one year. One year – I lived less than 4 blocks away from my work. I hated my short commute that one year. I did not pass by a gas station, a bank or a grocery store on my way to and from work. The only thing I passed by was a donut shop – called The Donut Wheel and this was disastrous to me. I had recently lost 35 pounds before moving to this location so having a donut shop on my path to work everyday was treacherous. I lived so close it would have been easy to walk to work – but I only walked the route one time – as it made stopping by the donut shop way too easy. I had no car to park, no one driving behind me, no one to block my path of walking in the donut shop. For me I found I had to drive to work to keep me from going into the donut shop. My car would not even be warmed up before it was time to park it at work, or at home. Every time I had to go to the grocery store or bank or to get gas it felt I was going “out of my way” to do any of these basic activities. All these things felt like burdens to me – even though I lived close to work. I saved myself from 2+ hours driving to work during this year, but I found myself working 2 hours longer in the office. I even found myself going back to work on the weekends that much easier. NO Thanks for living close to work….I will take my 1 hour commute to work and being able to pass by many banks, stores and gas stations. NO Thanks to the short commute and the tempting donut shop.