6 ms·

Everybody seems to be celebrating the opportunity spend more time at home, but I have the opposite view. I live alone(it seemed like a good idea at the time[pr

• ericye16 6y ago
  Could you work at home where your family is? I'm in a similar spot and seriously considering it.
• noman-land 6y ago
  Considering the way you explained your situation, it doesn't sound like you'd be taking away anything from anyone more deserving. You sound like you need that valuable capacity as well.
• nouveau0 6y ago
  I feel you. I'm going through the same thing. I'm an introvert who recently became extrovert and I can't do 90% of the activities that made me an extrovert. Here's how I'm coping: 1. Reactivated my introvert side with a) Reading more books b) Learning to play music c) Online singing lessons d) Exercising at home: i) Strength ii) Following through Supple Leopard (book) 2. Going outside once a day for a walk. No exceptions. 3. Chill at the emptiest park on the weekend. 4. Going on a hike during on some weekends. 5. Small talk and saying Hi to random people on the street. 6. Cleaning the house
  • zepearl 6y ago
    (same profile & problems here) I started two weeks ago with #2 (a ~10 minutes walk in the morning) and it does seem to have a positive impact (more relaxed while working, less feeling of being "stuck at home"). Concerning #1a I started reading again some books that I already read in the past, but in a different language. Additionally: cooking. I previouly used to cook just some veeery basic stuff but now I tend to experiment more and raise a little bit the difficulty level (e.g. Tom Kha Gai soup, fish cooked in the owen, etc...) => interesting, and it changes a bit your usual day, and it provides something about which you can talk to other people => nice (but dangerous - always have a plan B available, hehe)
  • tutfbhuf 6y ago
    How can someone change from introvert to extrovert. As per my current understanding this kind of thing is a very fundamental personality trait. Not saying it's impossible to change, but curios how to do so.
    • Kluny 6y ago
      For me it was mostly a matter of managing my anxiety, once I had a better handle on it I had way more bandwidth for being social and was able to enjoy it and be energized by it.
    • mattlondon 6y ago
      I never view it as a binary situation. I personally see myself moving along the scale between the two based on situation and my mood. I view myself as mostly introverted but occasionally surprise not only myself but also wife with my extroversion when the conditions are right. Perhaps the original poster just found the right conditions for their extroversion to blossom.
    • anoncareer0212 6y ago
      It's all mindset...I leaned introvert in high school and was locked inside for 1-2 years coding after college, went hard INTJ. 18 months later, after a lot of small changes (moved, added a friend group, got an apartment in the hip part of town, pitched investors, more employees), I was a hard ESFP It really makes me hurt to be stuck by myself for this long again. There's some net benefits to introversion (more time, mostly), but theyre minimal and don't increase much
      • disgruntledphd2 6y ago
        Myers-Briggs is a state measurement, not a trait measurement. Filed under yet another reason why Myers-Briggs sucks.
    • solinent 6y ago
      From my experience introversion is relative to your environment, so if you move or get some new friends maybe that might help.
  • codelike 6y ago
    Thanks for sharing this list, those sound like healthy activities. Could you share how you're doing those online signing lessons? Is there a specific website, or did you find a personal teacher and get lessons via zoom/Skype? I'd be very interested in hearing about that.
    • nouveau0 6y ago
      Yes, I started 1-1 lessons with a local teacher about year ago. Now, we're doing it over Skype. Since we already know each other it works well. I feel that real-time feedback is essential for beginners like me.
      • codelike 6y ago
        Thanks for getting back to me on this, I appreciate it.
  • dannyr 6y ago
    Do you use a service for online singing lessons? Or just Youtube videos?
    • nouveau0 6y ago
      I started taking lessons with a local teacher about a year ago. It's the same now but over Skype, even though we live about a mile away from each other lol
• sukilot 6y ago
  Make lunch dates with coworkers or friends. A stationary bike or row machine or an aerobics video is a good home exercise (and can be done on video chat)
• bachmeier 6y ago
  > If I demand to work from the office just so they I get the chance to occasionally chat to someone, it takes away valuable capacity from people that actually need it. Isn't that a premature optimization? How do you know that's going to happen?
• supergeek133 6y ago
  I agree with you. I have friends/family close but we're all honoring quarantine pretty well. I have a lake place I can go to on the weekends but generally speaking I find myself "losing routine" during the week. I rather enjoyed working from the office, it helped me timebox work and provided a break in between parts of the day.
• smoe 6y ago
  I'm in a similar situation, while all my family is in Europe I live alone in Bogotá, Colombia which has been in varying degrees of lockdown for 18 weeks and will be for at least another month. So both my usual midweek as well as weekend activities have been impossible for the most part. What I started doing, is to go for 1-2 hour walks every day. At first just to get some physical activity and change of what I'm looking at all day, but later friends joined for a chat and I had a bunch of dates and work related meetings this way. Although it feels a bit silly in the beginning, it definitely helped a lot with loneliness.
• farisjarrah 6y ago
  I have been hitting up friends/co-workers/family members and doing Zoom/Google Meet/Microsoft Teams/Discord hang out sessions. Basically anything I would do with those friends in person we just try to get in online. The game Jackbox party can work over Discord if your people have 2 devices. I also have joined a local online baking club, once a month we cook bread/cakes/treats for each other and take slices and drop them off at people mailboxes the day or two before the online meetup, and then the day of the online meetup we all eat our bread/cakes/treats and just shoot the breeze and compare baked goods. Its definitely much harder to socialize while under physical distancing conditions, but it is possible, it just takes considerably more effort and imagination to come up with fun things to do.
• alfalfasprout 6y ago
  This isn't really a function of remote work though... it's a function of everything being closed b/c of COVID.
• IMAYousaf 6y ago
  Hey man, if you want a friend to talk to, happy to do that!
• sologoub 6y ago
  As many already said - get outside as much as possible/safe. Fresh air and exercise do magic. On the human contact side, getting into massive multiplayer games might be interesting - there are a lot of interactions and cooperative play. Team sense of accomplishment and belonging do develop, which might help a bit with the sense of isolation. Last but not least, we do video conferencing happy hours and drinks/game time with my team, which also takes the edge off. Ultimately, this isolation has nothing to do with WFH, but rather with the pandemic.
• tylergetsay 6y ago
  Maybe consider a pet :) My dog is awesome and walking him gets me out
  • nonbirithm 6y ago
    I've been wanting to do this but the shelters are all closed indefinitely and I've had bad experiences with Craigslist. I've settled for meeting my neighbor's pets.
• whyenot 6y ago
  I've had to come to work every day during the stay at home order. Everyone tells me how lucky I am that I can "escape" being at home, and in some ways, they are right. My commute and finding parking are a lot easier than they used to be. Still, spending the whole day in an empty building is hard. On a good day, I'll exchange a sentence or two with one other person. The emptiness and silence of this place is difficult to deal with. I don't think it's any easier than working at home in our current situation.
• agoodthrowaway 6y ago
  I think if there’s a positive to be taken from COVID-19 it’s that we have time now for reflection. I think many of us have neglected human connection in our lives and COVID is exposing just how lonely we are. I am sure it’s difficult being alone but it’s also a chance to think about what you value most. A serious question: should we rely on work for a social outlet? Should we instead try to become more a part of the communities where we live rather than where we work?
  • ck425 6y ago
    In my case I had a strong community outside of work: local theatre. Unfortunately that's now dead and likely to be amongst the very last things to return. I've seen a lot of friends since lockdown lifted but it's not the same as the regular rehearsals and annual shows and socials to look forward to.
• briefcomment 6y ago
  Don't you think you need it? If not you, then who?
• 5Qn8mNbc2FNCiVV 6y ago
  Same situation for me so I acted quickly and moved across Germany closer to my family and old friends. Idk how the situation is in the US regarding moving and getting a new location going but I think it's still so early that moving makes sense. Definitely such a big mental improvement, it's crazy
• georgeecollins 6y ago
  I wonder if people will start to make co-working collectives? Imagine a number of people in an area such as a small town or an apartment building rent a work space where they work together remotely. They don't work for the same companies but they do the things like in Office Space.. birthday candy, water cooler, bowling league... To the OP, I feel you! One thing I would say is that you can bet a lot of people are in your boat and people will invent new creative ways to connect.
• anonu 6y ago
  If you can work from home why not move in with your family? Obviously there are many considerations to take into account... But just a thought.
• wheresmycraisin 6y ago
  To me it (the sudden acceptance of WFH, not covid-19 obviously) has been the Best Thing Ever. I loathed commuting 60+ minutes to my desk job and wearing noise cancelling headphones so I didn't need to have impromptu 'chats' with lonely people. I loathed that 600 sqft apts in Berkeley were $3000/month. I loathed that remote positions are few and far between, and, now that I'm an employer, the number of workers who are used to working 100% remote were few and far between. I loathed seeing my wife only ~4 waking hours per day. This sudden shift to everybody-wfh has been the greatest vindication of my work- and life-style. Pools are one of the few things I'll miss, as they are truly communal. Even billionaires generally don't have private 25m+ pools (from what I've gather from those $50M real estate listing videos on youtube).
• ramblerman 6y ago
  I feel for you, and it shows the current transition is too abrupt. But I personally don't mind moving forward in society where your default friends or not defacto your colleagues.