Take The Long Way Home

I have always tried to live close to where I work because I didn’t like the idea of spending a lot of time in my car going back and forth.  However when I first accepted my job at PPL three and half years ago, I didn’t really think I was going to be there very long as it is smack dab at the “X” when you mention “The Hood” in South Minneapolis.  The intersection of Chicago and Franklin Avenues are internationally known for crime, so as you can imagine this job comes with a little bit of stress built into it just getting into the magnetic, badge-card needing building.  I live out in New Hope so my commute is about 12 miles one way.  I’m not a huge fan of rush hour traffic so I try to avoid the freeways.  The idea of moving bumper-to-bumper during two different time periods of my day seems like madness to me, I would prefer to keep moving.  However, I did gravitate to a busy side street, Douglas Drive, this leads to a less crowded freeway, Olson Memorial Highway, which brings me into downtown Minneapolis.  I can then take Chicago Avenue from there to my job.  This entire trail is usually crowded in the morning and after work but I can make it to work/home in about 25 minutes.

In short, I help people find employment and in some cases work with people who randomly walk in from the street; we service anyone searching for a job.  I’m a Trainer for a banking program and on average, I usually have a class size of about fifteen students.  I conduct these classes five times a year and now, after having graduated fifteen classes, I have learned each and every student is unique. They are like a puzzle I have to solve, I need to find out how to best market them in a very short period of time.  Yet, like all of us, sometimes students have panic filled days and I’m the one they can call, 24 hours a day.  Granted I’m only there for eight hours but you imagine the messages I get left at sometimes 1:27 a.m. in the morning.   I could have someone in tears on the phone because they received a rejection letter for the job they wanted or congratulating a graduate who just delivered her newborn baby.  When my phone rings or when a student randomly shows up at the front desk, it could literally be anything.  In many cases I’m the student’s mentor, coach, cheerleader, priest, discipliner or best friend when they land that job.  I’m whatever they need in that moment, (when I looked at my job description it did list “Other assigned duties as needed.)  I have learned to roll with the punches in employment training.

I’m also a single parent of a teenage young man in high school.  He’s a great kid who is taking four honors classes and he usually doesn’t give me any issues, but still, he is a teenager and there is a certain amount of stress that comes with being the parent of one.  Most of the time when I walk in the door, there is a Halo around his head but there have been a couple of times when his horns were showing and his tail was swishing about on the floor, (every parent out there knows exactly what I’m talking about.)  You never know what you’re walking into with a teenager, and now OMGosh, for the first time ever, there is a girl involved.  This will be totally new ground for both of us.  Incidentally, my email to the hospital where my son was born, asking for his operations manual, is still unfortunately, marked as unread.

One day last year I was at home getting ready for work and as I was preparing myself in the morning, I started to dread the idea of going to work.  Now this really boggled me because I absolutely love my job!  Then, as I was driving to work, amidst thousands of other people driving to work, passing by orange construction vehicles with lane-closed signs and a sea of bright red tail lights, it dawned on me; I didn’t mind work itself, what I realized in that moment was I didn’t like “going to” work. 

My route was very stressful and it was affecting my mood before I even walled into the front door to my job.  Now normally I can counter that with music.  Many times I’ve pulled into the parking lot at work with my stereo playing Billy’s Joel’s “Keeping The Faith” or Selena’s “Bibi Bibi Bom Bom” to get me in that ripe, motivational speaker mood I need to be in for my students.  For three straight weeks while class is going on, I put on the “Robert E. Willis Show” and the students absorb all of the knowledge, enthusiasm and energy, they can from me.  They are like little sponges but I know I’m the most successful in helping them when I give them some of my own personal energy.  It is however, very draining.  Over time, a valuable lesson I have learned is every day I need some “Me” time in between my two worlds

So I decided to use some of my Marine Corps skills, pulled out a map and I found another route to work.

Now in the morning, I start out my driveway the same way but instead of going on the busy street, I take the back roads.  Granted, there are more stop signs but far less traffic.  I weave in and around the busy streets but stay on the less populated roads.  On my new way to work I drive along Crystal Lake for about a quarter of a mile.  I can sometimes see morning steam coming off of the lake or the reflection of the rising sun; people walking their dogs or ducks gracefully landing causing large ripples to roll across the calm, perfectly still face of the water.  This is very relaxing, tranquil and as you just imagined, peaceful!

I then work my way to Victory Memorial Parkway where I follow a tree-lined Boulevard with lush fields of green grass, (or snow all depending on what time of year it is) and this turns into Theodore Wirth Parkway.  I grew up in North Minneapolis and this track takes me right by places I hung out at while growing up.  VM Parkway where I biked as a teenager to work, Sunset Hill where I went sledding at as a child, a grassy little valley where there once was a sandbox I played in as a toddler in the midday sun.  Bassett’s Creek where my brother and I leapt across the rapids as boys, hopping from one moss covered stone to another, (sometimes slipping into the water by accident or by choice.)

There is even a golf course where I once caddied, (I said once!,… the guy ended up carrying his own clubs because they were too heavy for me but he still paid me anyway.)  Beautiful pathways I have walked along over the years, listening to the birds chirping away in the woods and occasionally, seeing a deer popping out, or into, a bushy hedge.  I have a lot of wonderful memories along this new trek to my job.

Does it take me a little longer?  Most certainly, about 40 minutes, but by time I pull into my parking lot at work, I’m all mentally charged ready to rock and roll with some ZZ Top before I see my students or very soothed as I listen to Native Flute music before seeing my son; I create the mood I desire during most of that 40 minute ride.  Sometimes I just drive in silence as I look at the trees all dressed up, covered with freshly fallen snow.  I’m in the right frame of mind because I visually changed my view along my necessary commute to work.

The next the time you feel your stress is up, instead of thinking it’s your job, think about your way to work/home and pull out a map and see if you can change the course, and mood, of your day.