I Had a 5-Hour Commute; After One Year I Quit and Pivoted My Career

For me, the COVID-19 pandemic gave me the unexpected benefit of starting my parenthood journey working from home.

Working from home isn’t something I’ve always wanted to do, but I was completely naive to think that I could undertake the demands of commuting to an office every day with a newborn at home.

When I had my daughter in March of 2020, I had planned on resuming my one-hour, one-way commute to my office as a digital web editor for a national magazine at the end of my 12-week leave.

However, it became apparent very quickly that I had failed to take into account newborn night wakings served with a side of bone-crushing exhaustion or sick days for both myself and my daughter.

Gratefully, I eased into working mother life remotely

I edited and wrote from the comfort of my home, not having to worry about driving on the highway when I had barely strung together more than a few hours of sleep.

As the years went on, remote work became the optimal solution for me and my husband as working parents.

Since my husband’s hospitality career generally doesn’t offer remote work opportunities, I did most day care drop-offs and pick-ups, sick days at home, and everything else in between.

And, this worked for a while — until I was swept up in a wave of media layoffs in 2023.

I thought I could find another fully remote media role, I was wrong

Almost all the media jobs I could find required at least a few days a week in the office.

I secured a new role with a large national publisher — on the condition that I commute into their downtown Manhattan offices three days a week.

I had no other options — a dwindling severance and the need for health insurance for my family meant I had to take it.

I live in the Hudson Valley, which meant I’d be commuting 2 ½ hours one way.

My new commute threw everything off balance

I would leave home in the mornings before the sun rose and my daughter was awake and not see her until 12 hours later, when she was about to go to bed.

My husband needed to cut some days short at his job so he could make it to daycare on time. Sometimes he couldn’t, and we needed to scramble to find someone to scoop our girl up at the last minute since I’d be stuck on a subway or train.

I spent a year driving across the Hudson River to the Metro-North station, riding the train for an hour and a half into Grand Central, taking the subway down to the financial district, and walking a half mile to my office two to three days a week — to sit at my desk, write and edit, not talk to many people, and do it all over again for the journey home.

If you think this seems ridiculous, it’s because it is

I don’t need to be in a physical office to write and edit — and very often, I walked into an office that was at best, half full, and at worst, mostly rows of empty desks, making me feel like the four to five hours a day I was spending on trains and not with my family was a waste.

What was the point of a hybrid work schedule if people didn’t always show up? Why was I spending so much time traveling so I could work at my desk and barely speak to anyone there?

Whether I was sitting next to someone in the office or working from home, all communication was done over Slack. Zoom calls still happened as well, even while in the office.

I knew I had to make a big change if I wanted to have that precious time back with my daughter

I’m not talking about just applying for a new job type of change. I mean a larger pivot away from journalism, since I couldn’t find anything that was fully remote.

This pivot was difficult for me because I’m very proud of my journalism career, but spending time with my daughter was more important.

So, I applied for content marketing roles at remote-friendly companies. I’ll be honest, most of the roles I applied for did not follow up, which was disheartening.

However, a fintech company took a chance on me — one with a fully remote, parent-friendly culture that means that I can drop my daughter off and pick her up at school.

I now don’t have to choose between making the two-and-half-hour commute to Manhattan and taking my daughter to a doctor’s appointment or having to scramble to make pick-up plans for her.

Afterschool afternoons now usually include a run around the playground; a trip to the library to play games and pick out new books; or a special frozen yogurt treat on a warm day.

My daughter is 5 and loving Pre-K life — and I wouldn’t want to miss this time with her for the world.