Working remotely, coworking spaces, and mental health

I spent my last two years at Yelp working from home in Portland, OR, where I'd moved by myself. I started to go completely insane toward the end of my first winter. Being in the same room all day and having nothing ever change around me was much, much worse for my mental health than I had expected - prior to this, I'd never even thought about the concept of my own mental health, but this experience really brought it to the fore.

I tried a couple of coworking spaces, found one that I liked, and have been going there regularly since - my employer paid for my membership at the time, but I quit my job a year ago and it's still worth it to me to have a space where I can go every day to get out of the house and be _around_ humans, even if I don't socialize with them as much as I could.

I've always identified as an introvert, and used to fantasize about the idea of e.g. working in the top room of a lighthouse for a month - assuming you had a good Internet connection, you could get so much coding done there! - but it seems that being around people is much more important than I'd given it credit for, particularly in the winter when it's pitch black outside at 4pm and you're already kind of depressed by default.

> Usually relieved

I think almost everybody will have the same answer here. I don't think it's a good question, because most people have too much interaction every day and is tired of it. That does not mean they will be happy standing most of their days alone.

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Coworking spaces are a mixed bag. I went there for few months but stopped again.

Good is that you face more serendipity than when working from home. But really, it is not that much more. After only few weeks, the novelty wore off and I got bored and saw more the downsides. Like super small tables, no dual monitor setup, always too cold, the commute, less free fruit, and the people. Some are quite nice and you realize that you need random social encounters but there are also the typical odd people to whom you cannot relate at all (like everywhere). Those people don't hurt but I remember one who reserved the best flexdesk the night before by leaving tons of her post-its and other papers there. No big deal but nobody who makes you happy either.

I knew most people I met there before. Bonding with new people without having a common mission was not easy, it just didn't feel natural (and I am rather the extrovert sales type of guy). So, you can still feel 'alone' in a coworking space.

I think a coworking space makes more sense if you need a space as a team and want or need to see each other f2f on a regular base.

For business meetings or doing interviews, I prefer lobbies of top hotels, they are even more representative than the best coworking spaces and at the end of the month also cheaper with full service included and no extra fee when booking some meeting room. And for two hours working away from home, I am a fan of Starbucks or any coffee ahop with good wifi.

How many found new project ideas and partners in coworking spaces ?