Remote Work Friends. Does anyone else miss having workmates?

Hi Everyone,

I’ve been working remotely for nearly 10 years now and I genuinely prefer it. I can’t really imagine going back to working in an office full-time.

But there is one part of office life I’ve started to miss more than I expected: having workmates.

Since moving somewhere more rural to raise my son, I’ve found myself increasingly working in isolation. There’s nobody sitting next to me to bounce an idea off, ask a stupid question, solve a problem together with, complain about something to, or just have a laugh with during the day.

I’m actually considering moving back towards the city partly so I can spend some time in co-working spaces and be around other people working again.

It got me wondering how other experienced remote workers feel after doing this for a few years.

Do you ever feel lonely or isolated working remotely, or is the solitude one of the things you enjoy about it?

And are there any good communities where remote workers actually get to know each other. Not networking or LinkedIn-style self-promotion, but somewhere to chat, share problems, help each other out and have something resembling the friendship/banter you used to get from work colleagues?

I’d be really interested to hear from people who have been remote working for several years. Has your relationship with remote work changed over time?