I had an unexpected car commute this morning. I haven’t had a regular car commute since I drove up and down I-75 during my clerkship, a drive that was longer than I would’ve chosen but one that was never stressful. In DC I didn’t even have a car and commuted on the metro. Then once I moved to North Carolina I worked from home so I only faced rush hour traffic by accident when I’d forget what time it was when running an errand.

This morning’s drive was awful. Stop. Go. Stop. Go. Head on a swivel. It was a nice reminder that I want no part of a stressful or lengthy commute. Working from home brings its own challenges—isolation, stir craziness, and difficulty in ending the workday. I think Cal Newport’s construct of working from near home is the ideal. Something like a calm 10-15 minutes, just enough time to allow a mental shift. I’ll still have a home office too, but having somewhere else to go, a workspace that isn’t part of my living space, is a priority after my experience the past few years.

For now I’m on a massive road trip so working and living spaces keep changing and intermixing. This is a post with an eye on the future. Has anyone else adopted a work-from-near-home approach, whether by moving for a shorter commute or moving work out of the house, and discovered positives or negatives that I should consider? Responses welcome.