What Being on the Road Can Teach You

Maybe you spend a lot of your time in a cubicle, something that is a choice too many of you make. Think of something: What could--would--you do if the majority of your workday were spent somewhere else?

Perhaps, like me, you might have been in many cubicles over the years, a denizen in your little den of supposed privacy. I once worked in a cubicle down in a row of many cubicles in a building full of cubicles. Because of the room's acoustics, I could hear conversations of everyone who was in the same row. Funny thing: I could hear one woman's whisper as she spoke in a whisper into her phone, as she spoke to her boyfriend of certain sexual promises. In other cubicles in other buildings I have heard people fighting with their spouses and children, arguing with bank representatives, discussing their parents' health issues. If I have learned nothing else, I have learned to be quick to fill my ears with music whenever these conversations begin.

But that's not what I want you to think about. I really want you to think of my question: What would you do if you spent your workday somewhere other than a cubicle? Would you write? or travel? or play the drums? or simply sit outside and feel the warm and wind on your skin?

Well, hell. It's a choice, really; we're not shackled to our cubicle walls. Not literally, that is. But healthcare, paid vacation and sick time, retirement plans and the such keep us chained nonetheless.

But this is more about getting on the road, something I've touched on somewhere in the bowels of this blog-type thing. And what we find out there is a bit of perspective--or maybe a retrospective of where we spend so much time. My favorite time to head out is well before dawn when the traffic is light and the sky isn't. Wind through the window seems more forgiving then, and the music sounds especially good. If you're not afraid of what's in your head, it's an excellent time. If you are afraid, well, you'll confront some interesting things. And sometimes, what you what you thought you were comfortable with will show its darker face and leave you with questions you might have trouble answering.

Tomorrow I start a road trip, the first extended time away from work since the start of the year. It should be a good journey, one with a destination toward the beginning and then some improvisation at the end. If nothing else, a trial separation from my cubicle will let us both re-evaluate some things (not the least of which is if we should continue our relationship).

I'll see what I find in the next few days, and then I'll report.