---
title: "My walk home"
date: 2016-11-11
tags: post
---

### Tags: [personal](/web/20170922150438/http://jmduke.com/tags/personal)

I used to work at Amazon. When I worked at Amazon, I got to walk to work. Walking to work is _amazing_. I think it has spoiled me to the extent that I cannot imagine ever having a job which required commuting via car or public transit.

Now I work from home. This is, in theory, an _even better commute_ than being able to walk to work. In fact, my walk to work is approximately ten seconds long.

Before I started working from home, I did a lot of research about how to handle it. Most of what I read stressed the importance of constructing barriers between your office and your home:

*   Only ever work from one place in the house;
*   Force yourself to dress up every day;
*   Establish routines and schedules.

I disregarded most of these:

*   I regularly work in sweatpants;
*   I work on my couch;
*   I’ll sit at my ‘office desk’ to watch football or drain my Pocket queue.

I did take one piece of advice seriously, though — and I think it’s the main reason I’m in the best work environment of my entire life.

* * *

At the end of every day, I go for a walk. I go for the same walk every day: 1.3 miles up 16th Avenue until I reach Louisa Boren Lookout Park.

It takes me around twenty-five minutes to reach the park. On the way, sometimes I listen to heavy podcasts that require attention and consideration, when my brain is still hungry from the afternoon.

Sometimes, I listen to softer ones — weekly ones, things where I can zone out for a little bit.

On the really demanding days, I just listen to music and let my brain turn off completely.

The walk to the park is pleasant. I see dogs. I see the leaves change. I see some neighbors. Mostly I’m not paying attention — I feel on autopilot, commuting through Capitol Hill.

Then I reach the park. The park is very good, though it’s less a ‘park’ and more ‘a couple of benches with a very nice view’. Here is a picture of Louisa Boren Lookout Park:

![](https://vanosslife.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/boren-lookout1.jpg)

Even when its dark or rainy out — which is often in Seattle at 6pm — you can make out Lake Washington, and the beautiful vista on the other shore. The picture doesn’t do it justice; even one visit to the lookout doesn’t really do it justice. The view from Louisa Boren is best appreciated like a really good album, where you have to give it listen after listen after listen to really appreciate what it’s offering you.

Then I walk back home. Another twenty-five minutes listening to something of varying intensity. Sometimes my walk back is a little faster, sometimes it’s a little slower.

I get back home and I take my shoes off. It feels good. I make some dinner or pour a drink or take a bath. I am now done for the day, and I can move onto more important things. Whatever work was still on my mind at the beginning of the walk has vanished until morning.

* * *

My vision of working from home was originally renegade and chaotic: afternoons spent in bars and coffeeshops. _Freedom_ was the operative word: freedom to work whenever and wherever and however.

Now that I have that freedom, I realize the importance of routines and constraints by which I can mentally organize my day.

My walk home lets me be a little more mechanical — which lets me be a little less mechanical. For that, I am very grateful.