2 A.M. Walks Kept Me Sane in a Soulless 9–5
<p>The world changes at 2 a.m.</p>
<p>There are fewer people and less noise. The light is different. Most buildings shut down their garish bulbs, and hazy street lamps stand out more.</p>
<p>In a small, mountain town like mine, the streets turn foggy in the early hours. The air changes. It’s cooler, fresher. Surrounded by pines and silent buildings, I discover the scent of greens, of leaves and trees that urban life obscured during the day. Now and then, I walk down an alley and I smell it before I see it: a sweet, perfume-like fragrance. Angel’s trumpets bloom only at night.</p>
<p>In those days, <a href="https://level.medium.com/getting-out-of-a-soulless-job-even-if-youre-poor-a-story-c5002a230021" rel="noopener">my “9–5”</a> started at 8 p.m. and ended at 5 a.m. I was a call center agent. Based in the Philippines, my work revolved around booking hotel rooms for Americans who are just waking up on the other side of the world. The rooms they book average $150 a night, with the cheaper ones being in the $80 to $95 range. Others stayed in $200-$400 rooms and those on vacation spent as much as $500 a night. I got paid roughly $260 per <em>month</em> to do that job; planning escapades I could never afford.</p>
<p>So I looked forward to two things: the end of my shift, and the one-hour, unpaid lunch break, that I took at 2 a.m.</p>
<p>There is <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/0I0l2Oo5zjpCEphpDJL0Pm?si=4cd1bbc4f6e34133" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">a song</a> I listened to on those walks. Something I took from an animated film. It’s over seven minutes long, with an instrumental intro that goes for 2 minutes and 47 seconds. I paced my walk based on that song. It helped ensure I didn’t walk too slow or too fast; that I absorbed everything in my stroll, without being too lost in it. Besides, walking at night is better with music. Makes you feel like you’re inside a movie.</p>
<p><a href="https://medium.com/the-narrative-arc/2-a-m-walks-kept-me-sane-in-a-soulless-9-5-d0d4f6e375a5"><strong>Read More</strong></a></p>