WFH loneliness - Anyone else feel lonely working from home?

There's always the wanking

Getting back in the office may not be enough, though if you can do that, or find a new job, you really should. It's OK to be honest with your supervisor and team about what's working and what isn't working. You could also try running once a week with a random group to start. It can be your easy day, and it doesn't have to be someone or some group you think you have a lot in common with. Then give yourself 6 or so weeks of that before you really decide whether it's a routine, and a connection, you'd like to sustain. It takes a little time. (If you pair up with a decent athlete or group, you might reap some fitness benefits too.) Or bowling league.

The only work from home jobs I can find are customer service call centres.

Spent my whole life in Client facing roles and transitioned to a new WFH job 4 months ago. Months 2 and 3 were miserable.

I have three young kids so most of my social life was at work. With my new flexibility I’ve been able to pivot and spend a lot more time with the family. After adjustment, I don’t want to go back any time soon. If I were single I’d not WFH a single day. But with young kids the commute and inefficiencies is such a waste of time.

i wfh. no social life outside of community bike rides. it's a very quiet life but it's what i chose. if you're feeling lonely, you need to find activities with like-minded people. i still feel lonely 99% of the time but those bike rides are a life-saver and keep me afloat.

i dont like running with others. i've even stopped racing apart from two very local races a year.

good luck.

I feel awful from staring at a computer all day and moving numbers around.

I felt awful doing this in the office as well.

I like people but interacting with co-workers stresses me out because I’m kind of a degenerate and just fail very badly conveying normality.

I don’t have good WiFi, so I have to leave the house sometimes, and luckily have friends at one of the places I go, but I’m slipping lately (because there’s too many bs tasks to move from computer) and I can feel it wearing.

I had a few months where my in-laws had to move in and converted my office to their bedroom. So I worked from my bedroom. 20 hours a day in the same room (including sleep) felt like jail.

I finally have my office back, complete with a 60 inch TV for CNBC and occasional sports (the World Cup was great for WFH). However, I’m back to the office 3-4 days per week by choice. I’m more productive and enjoy the interaction with the President and CEO.

1-2 days per week from home makes it a really nice balance. Especially getting in a 8-10 mile lunchtime run.

Have you ever considered writing a screenplay? Could be worth trying if you’re looking for something new to do. You’ll definitely make good money off of it

I'm not lonely because I actually do work... This makes me feel like you aren't challenged nor are you giving much of an effort which can be fine if your goal is to keep the status quo but that obviously isn't working for you.

I accomplish far more (like 2-4x as much) while working from home however, it is easier to train new people in person.

Maybe find a job that requires you to use your brain more.

I just quit my fully remote job a few days ago. I made great money, but I'm 27 years old and I just felt like I was wasting my life being alone in my house... Not a life worth living for me. There will be a better job out there. I don't care if it pays less.

I love working from home. Sure, I miss the in person interaction sometimes. But then I remember how horrible commuting was. I have so much more time in my days now. It's totally worth it.

I hate the word pivot! I thought I had rid myself of hearing this corporate-speak word since I now WFH but now it's on these boards! Aaargh!

That Monday morning commute from the kitchen to the home office is the worse.

Feel like commuting and being stuck in an office gave some people a small sense of purpose. “Gotta get to work!”

Find it hilarious all these 20 and 30 year old single people moaning about WFH.

remote work is incredible!

Are you just so ingrained with North American work culture that you can’t be a tiny bit creative???

1- ever thought about traveling the world and exploring some places with a cheaper cost of living? Central America , Southeast Asia etc. you make American wages!!

2- you really are lonely without your work colleagues = your just a lonely person. WFH is awesome in that now I don’t have these forced work friends and can actually meet people doing things that I’m interested in (run club, surfing, rock climbing etc).

3- save on commuting and explore your local neighbourhood for breakfast / lunch etc.

jeeez Louise kids nowadays. WFH is the single best cultural that advantages young people today. A few of my friends would kill for WFH so they could travel the world.

Work-from-home is ultimately bad for the vast majority of companies and their employees. It was effective for the first half year of COVID because everything was locked down and employees had nothing to do besides work. One of the reasons for the massive inflation we're seeing is because of the reduced economic output from WFH.

Oh, by the way, if you want to claim that your job can be done effectively with WFH, you are in essence saying that your job can be done WFP (Work-from-Philippines). You may as well wear a dunce cap with the words "Please outsource my job" printed on it.

For remote work to be effective on a large scale, jobs that require complex thinking and creativity will have to be sort of "dumbed down" to accommodate the nature of remote work, because employees are constantly distracted and absent. Holding a meeting to explain some complex idea is almost useless in a WFH context because nobody is going to be paying attention enough to understand.

Over half of marriages used to be couples who met at work. Expect the marriage rate to decrease by a lot.