Just two months ago, I was spending an average of 2.5 hours per day commuting a total of 26 miles. Rounding up, that’s 12.5 hours and 130 miles (and 10 cups of coffee) per week in the car. Raleigh traffic was partly to blame, as was living across the county from the Citrix office. I felt like I lived in a Toyota Highlander. Over the years, I had found ways to be “productive” during the commute, with audiobooks and podcasts, but there were always things I felt like I could/would/should have been doing.

I begin to work from home full time in the middle of March. I have been extremely fortunate, despite the stress of work and homeschooling little ones and the general anxiety that accompanies a global pandemic. One silver lining: the amount of time I have back in my day without a commute. There are many days when I shut down my laptop at 5 p.m. and think, “Now what?!”

Learn more about the impact you’re having by not making a daily commute in our sustainability eBook!

Here are four ways I’m using those 12.5 extra hours each week:

Work Up a Sweat

Even with the gym in the Citrix Raleigh building, finding time to hit the treadmill has always been at the bottom of my priority list. The only running I was doing was out the door, late to grab my kids for swimming soccer practice. By the time everyone was fed, homeworked, and bathed, my only exercise was deadlifting the remote. Now, with 2.5 hours back in my schedule, I find that I’m walking my neighborhood at least once a day. Without the treks to meeting rooms and lunch breaks, walking is crucial to making sure I step away from the laptop.

Calculate My Environmental Footprint

Using environmental sustainability research from my colleague Justin Sutton-Parker, I figured out that offsetting the greenhouse gases emitted by my commute would require 42 seedling trees grown for 10 years or the work of 3.3 acres of US forests for one year. Without a daily commute, that’s 6,032 miles per year I’m not driving, which equates to 2.46 cubic tons of greenhouse gases per year not entering the environment.

I never gave much thought to my personal impact on the environment other than recycling and leave-no-trace camping, but after seeing the amazing benefits of remote work on the environment, I’m considering making permanent changes to my commute. (Did you know that working from home two days per week can make a huge difference?!)

Turn My Black Thumb Bright Green

Last year, my coworker gifted me an air plant after I bemoaned my inability to keep anything besides children and dogs alive. “You don’t have to water it! Or maintain soil! It’s so easy!” Spoiler alert: It died.

When I moved to a new house two days before our shelter-in-place order took effect, I inherited a lovely garden, including a climbing rose and bunches of peonies. Standing over it in March, I seemed like the Horticultural Angel of Death. But over the past two months, I’ve spent evenings reading about their care and maintenance, ordering new rose bushes and lilacs, carefully maintaining the soil and lovingly pruning. It’s a calming hobby in a messy world, and new buds each day remind me that good things are still to come.

Become WX Qualified

Did you know that Citrix and Quartz have partnered on an educational experience to help define the workplace experience (WX)? The seven online courses focus on mindfulness, reskilling, and productivity — all key to the resiliency of businesses and employees. Working from home without a commute — those 2.5 hours where I brainstormed solutions to work problems — had me wondering, where do I pencil in time to problem solve? The WX courses challenged me to rethink creativity and find problem-solving opportunities in my daily walks, gardening, or nightly jigsaw puzzles. (It’s true, I am an 80-year-old living in a 36-year-old’s body.)

In a time where of so much uncertainty, focusing on how I’m spending my time helps me stay centered. Now, if you’ll excuse me, the sky seems a little bluer and my rose garden is calling.

Want to learn more about the impact you’re having by not making a daily commute? Grab our sustainability eBook now!