- How often have you heard your friend/spouse/colleague crib about their office commute time. Plenty! Many of you would utter. In a report by 'Employee Commute Guide 2023' published by '
MoveInSync
'- It was noted that Indians spent as much as 7% of their day just commuting to and from work. With that much time dedicated to commute only, one might wonder if they're just wasting their life running against time. An overthinker may as well start to question the point of long commute every day to workplace. If by chance you fall on 'High on Productivity' end this may bother you even more so. As much as we humans crave change and spontaneous distractions, we must not let that dim the importance of the comfort and peace which stems from simplicity and monotony of every day life.
- You will find numerous articles and stats on internet shedding light on the adverse effects of Long commute on people's mental and physical health. But today we are going to talk about the Good theory of commute and it's psychological aspect. In a research journal published in '
Conversation
' a UK based magazine, authored by Kristie McAlphine and Mathew Piszczek, it was noted that Commute helps in creating a 'Liminal space' which in simple terms can be defined as a time where you have temporarily resigned from both work and home responsibilities and have entered in a state of recovery and detachment from work roles.
- The Research Study was centered around two cognitive bases- Psychological Detachment from the work role and Psychological Recovery from work. The time frame of an employee's commute vary from an individual to individual. So does their Detachment and Recovery experience. Detachment from work day and its stress can find its way to mushroom while you wait for your bus stop or destination to arrive, during the gap you can listen to podcasts or connect with friends via call. But these recreational activities can be hindered with if you fret and give too much of your time away while checking your stop at every station or when you're careful of directions if you drive a car or worst if you had a stressful day at work. The more you pay attention to these subtleties, the lesser time you will have for Recovery and Detachment. However longer commutes give you the chance to transition into the state of recovery and liminal space to relax and wither out the enervation after work, so that you can gradually switch to your calmer more comfortable self on the way back home. Commute presents itself as a Recharge time to overcome lassitude of a long day. You may as well want to try newer routes as it also gives you an opportunity to spend more time with yourself and along the way you may reflect on your needs and wants.
- While I was excited to learn about the ecstasy people felt when they got the chance to set foot outside their homes again after a dragging lockdown. I wanted to explore more about the reason they felt such way and doing so I came across a paper stating the exact same reasons. In a paper published by '
The Atlantic
' I found some interesting facts about Boundary Theory and people's perspective of our personality and identity. You may find the original paper 'The Psychological Benefits of Commuting to Work' on the magazine's site. Below I have taken some interesting notes from the Paper on how it may further affect our psychology and what role does commute play in this enigma.
- Gail Sheehy once wrote for New York Magazine in 1968 explaining the intriguing paradox of 'The commuter's double life'. What Gail tried to imply here was the distance between our personas we carry with ourselves at our home and at our workplace. We are expected to bring our veritable selves to work in a bid to encourage self-acceptance as a matter of our well-being. But we have got more than one veritable self and when they clash, both our work and home lives gets effected. Jon Jachimowicz of Harvard Business School further explained and quoted this - “If you respond like a manager at home, you might be sleeping on the couch that night, And if you respond like a parent at work,” it’s weird.
- Jon and his colleagues observed how people who actively engaged themselves in 'Role-Clarifying Prospection'; suggestive of people who used their commute time to inculcate a healthy retrospective-thought practice at the start of their day. People who were able to think through their work plans, schedules and meetings in advance were successfully able to replace the need to beat a dead horse and were able to prevent themselves from exploiting their time zoning-out and ruminating about their personal lives and problems. This not only helped their day start gradually on a lighter note but also helped them have a gratifying experience at their work place, as it also helped them keep track of work and client exigencies. On the other hand, people who missed including this prospection in their routine suffered with relatively higher levels of stress both at work and home.
- In Conclusion, it is safe to say that our commute can be a prerequisite for us to have some 'me-time'. Be it an early morning commute where we can mentally organise and prepare a mental journal of our upcoming meetings, deadlines and assignments or a heading back commute when we can give our mind and body some time to slow down and rest. We get the chance to reflect on our well-being, thoughts and can also use that time to enjoy being in our own company, away from the worries of work and home which becomes usually hard competing with the constant need for social media stimulation.
