Isolation, anxiety, and depression in the remote workplace

Personally I have had a very different experience since I left to travel and work remotely a few years ago.

I was already working remotely and yes at the time I was struggling with depression and loneliness. Given what I have experienced since I don't think remote work was at all the cause of my problems which were much deeper seated.

Leaving all of that behind and living out of a suitcase changed a lot of my perspectives on what I valued in life. I was by no means obsessed with material possessions before but enforcing a life of minimalism brought me understanding of what things actually make my life better vs just cost money and take up space. I had to think more critically about how I want to spend my time each day as oftentimes I had limited time in each place and with each set of people I had been lucky enough to meet. This meant I pushed myself to go out and spend quality time doing things I enjoyed and with people I liked because by putting smaller finite timelines on things I was motivated to do them.

I still have friends I just don't see them in person as much. Often times people would be travelling through the region and I would simply pack up and go hang out with them - this was awesome and I have done it many times over the last couple of years. I treasure all of these memories and hanging out at a bar after work can never compare.

This lifestyle has been amazing for me and has allowed me to climb out of a very dark place personally. I still suffer from depression - I probably always will. However I think this lifestyle has offered me better tools to deal with it.

Things that are hard though:

- Timezones

- Building professional relationships

- Keeping in shape

- Jetlag

Those are constant battles but compared to my personal demons easily managed. :)

If anyone is thinking of taking the plunge I highly recommend it. You don't have much to lose, you can always go back home but it just could change your life.

I am a fully remote worker nowhere near my "office", which is simply where our company is technically HQd.

I have never met my boss or any of my coworkers in person.

I do highly technical work, on a team that only hires very senior developers who have prior remote work experience.

And I can say, it is NOT for everyone.

If you do not have a life out of work, if you live alone, if you do not have a good network of real friends and/or family, or what you would consider an area "home", that's a problem.

My problem? I have almost all of those issues at the moment. I do have a work/life balance, but I don't do much with the "life" part. My close friends have scattered as they got older, had kids, moved around to different states for work, and I didn't put effort into finding new ones.

I can live wherever I want, but I don't know where I want to live! I can even move to Europe as I am a dual US/Irish citizen, but I don't know where I would want to go in Europe!

I have lived in so many states in my life already, I don't have a "home" really, so that's an issue also.

It seems great, but it comes with drawbacks. I'm working on them, while working on work.

"the ambitious side that’s never satisfied with the way that things are and the human side that wants to be content and happy" I found this line very relatable -- as with almost everything in life, balance is key. You would think we would know this by now, but it's usually the first thing to suffer. Anyways, I think it's great these topics are brought to the forefront -- instead of being siloed and almost taboo to talk about openly. We're surprisingly closed minded when it comes to mental health issues...

I don't really see why people keep trying to "defend" remote working looking for optimizations in a practice which is fundamentally broken. At what point in our evolutionary history do you think the human animal, which evolved as a pack hunter in a highly socialized environment, was designed to work from home 40 hrs a week? We should be focusing on creating more flexible office environments for our workers where they can come in and work with their coworkers regularly

I did work remotely for around 5 years and I loved it.

No surprise to me but most people need a village to be happy. That means having neighbours, familiar strangers, a regular routine and social bonds between all of those things. Remote work doesn't isolate you from the village.

I think it should be the predominant way of working. It can encourage villages and less commutes. When I worked remotely I found an office in a co-working space. I made friends with other people who worked in that space. I could walk, bike, or take public transit to the space. I had a mix of friends, acquaintances, familiar strangers, and strangers throughout my day.

It's better for the environment and for people.

I also know people who sail around the world and live a nomadic lifestyle. They all face the same difficulties with mental health: they need a village. The ones who manage to stick it out build a village around their lifestyle. However it's always a risk and one that should be planned for.