[tmnstr85]

I am going through something right now mentally as a middle aged man and being alone every day starting at 8:30am and only coming home to the same 3 people (who i love unconditionally) is kind of driving me mad. My professional life prior to covid had me weaving the halls of an office I knew and many of the people there were very special to me. To have none of that these days leaves my mind to be pre-occupied by things hard to escape. I'm ready for a change but I don't know if that involves going back to a 9 to 5 with a commute. I really like the top post on here about creating community and understanding its an investment. I hope others benefit from this as well.

[qgin]

Often in threads about loneliness, especially Ask HN threads about how to connect with people, there are some extremely terse replies to the effect of "Get married; have a family." And while I support doing that 100%, it is not the trivial solution for loneliness or lack of community. Connection to a world outside your house is an extremely important thing.

[yMPJXgDvj]

I struggle with this too. Returning to the office and all that involves (commute, schedule inflexibility) isn't ideal, so I hope that I can keep WFH but find the community aspect with more intentional effort there. But I miss the ease of just getting that from the office environment.

[0xbadcafebee]

> To have none of that these days leaves my mind to be pre-occupied by things hard to escape.

So don't escape them. Go to therapy and work out why going home to your family is driving you crazy. (Hint: it's not a lack of office banter)