Time Passages

When I began traveling to Stamford, people told me how much I'd be able to get done on the hour-long train trips to and from the studio--reading, and networking, and writing, and sleeping. But as the weeks go on, I find I am doing less and less each day. Almost every reading or writing activity leads to my falling asleep, and when I manage to stay awake (either because I'm full of nervous energy or because I'm terrified of missing my stop), it is an uneasy awake, full of thoughts about all the things I've left undone or unresolved.

So how is it that so many people do the daily train trip without losing their minds? (And clearly thousands of people do, whether suburbia to NYC or NYC out like me). Because if this Stamford thing is to last (and we certainly all hope it will), there will need to be a long-term plan before it feels as though half a lifetime has been lost on the train rides.

So, what can I do?

1. Become addicted to apps. Nope.
2. Take up knitting. Nice thought. Unlikely.
3. Strengthen my stay-awake-while-reading muscles. Promising.
4. Get more sleep so I don't need to sleep on the train. In what lifetime?
5. Make lists and check things off. Perhaps then, I won't always feel that things are undone. (Or, I will have written proof that, yes, they are undone).
6. There's that app thing again. Fight it, fight it.
7. Commit to writing my blog on the train every day, and don't give myself dinner if I haven't. Okay, that's just mean.
8. Observe and take notes on all those people I think are making such good use of their train time. Creepy, I know. But don't writers observe human behavior all the time?
9. Start driving to work. Yeah, and kill time as well as stress myself out. No way.
10. Accept that in every lifetime, some hours will just be lost, no big deal.

I'll have to think some more on all of this, and I'll have this blog post with me on the train to remind me of the options. It will be well worth it if it's part of the continuing saga in Stamford, Connecticut. And perhaps the thinking will use up some of the train time.