How do you deal with loneliness as a remote worker/maker?

Ghost Kitty
22 replies
I am a remote worker an I tend to be alone and lose social interactions. I'm wondering if there's a way to manage it.

Replies

Dan Edwards
@felipe_molina I find Twitter, Slack and communities like this really helpful. It’s why we’re building Makers 😊🙏
Bogdan Glushko
@felipe_molina Work from cafes when you can. That's a big help if you feel lonely.
Abadesi
@felipe_molina I like going to work out at the gym or a fitness studio and chatting with the staff and other people. Even small interactions based on small talk feel refreshing!
Kevin
I order something and have a forced conversation with the delivery man, no jk. :D Like @de already mentioned, during working-hours communities help a lot. Before/after working hours it's definitely helpful to work out and try to see some friends either during lunch-time or in the evening for a few hours. Guess it's also helpful for your partner if you at least pretend to leave the house once in a while. :)
Irma Mesa
This is always tricky! What I've found to help me are the following: 1) Online communities. I try to be active in a few Slack or Discord communities where I can build friendships and allows me have a convo at any time of the day. 2) Coffee shops. Hanging out here is always great. The baristas and folks at coffee shops are usually friendly and happy to talk. Sometimes I even find other remote workers. 3) Co-working spaces, virtual or physical. These help a lot too. Having people around you while you work can make a difference in defeating the lonely feeling. I also run a virtual Co-working Meetup if you'd like to check it out here - https://heyday.carrd.co/ It's a way to get work done but also have some face to face over a virtual call with other folks.
Moad  Lifandali
Start going to Toastmasters and find Salsa/Bachata/Kizomba nights. There you get to meet cool people. Or go to a coworking space
Justin E. Harris
I attend internet hangouts in addition to local meetups/networking events.
Swati Sharma
Volunteer for multi-function projects. This helps to interact with other team members, with whom you can take the conversations offline as well. Thanks to @vertoe_official as they are pretty flexible in giving multiple roles. :)
Daniel Cabrera Benitez
There was a time where I was working alone at home and it was really hard! At some point you are not going out from home during some days and you cannot distinguish when you are working or you are resting at home. So I created like some rituals to separate the spaces. First of all, I was taking a shower and getting dressed like I'm going out home, then I was going out to find some place to take a coffee and then coming back home. When I was at home I was using a room just for working, it was the only place at home where I can work (holy rule) and I had a working schedule (9h-18h). If I didn't want to feel alone, I was doing some Skype calls to some friend that was working in remote like me. I was funny, we were making the call to listen each other to work xD and make small chats. At some point nothing was working, I was feeling alone so I decided to go to some co-working space. I really recommend it, you can meet new people (maybe future clients or users :P) and you are not going to feel that alone :)
Robert Peralta
I normally turn on my PS4 and start a Party Chat just to talk to whoever is online. I have friends who work remotely too and we all chat in there sometimes.
Sarabeth Flowers Lewis
I would recommend less "social snacking" online (social media, etc.) and more intentional face-to-face interaction with other humans. I know it seems obvious, but the classic stuff works. Seriously: have a dinner party and invite 2-3 friends. Go on a long walk with someone. Go on a "date" with a friend and have dinner then take scooters to a dessert spot. Go to nature with friends(s).
Mario Giraldo
Hey Felipe, go out and reach out to ex-colleagues, people in your industry, join meetups. All the best!
Ali Ahmad
Reading book would be the fantastic way to spend your leisure. It will really help you to take your thought to new level. You can try these books: https://getreviewtoday.com/top-5...
Lee Haider
Hey Felipe, my team and I am currently working on an app called Trof. Trof is a mobile app that connects you with groups of people who share similar interests at local restaurants. This would be a way for you to meet up with other remote workers in your area!
Brendan Weinstein
Great topic to discuss Felipe and @abadesi this hits close to home. Totally agree with @de and others about coworking spaces and community participation. Social communities and messaging applications like slack and telegram are great to get support, assistance, feedback and network with some awesome people. For me, !MakerLog community truly made me feel support and included rather than just another lonely remote maker. This is largely due to the highly engaged and extremely supportive community of makers that @ftxrc has been able to attract and cultivate with MakerLog (check it out here www.getmakerlog.com) I recommend everyone that’s remote or lonely at times or alone shipping side projects check out MakerLog and you’ll see what I mean rather quickly once you join the telegram channel. Happens to be my favorite chat community I’ve ever been apart of. So a very big thank you to Sergio for creating Makerlog 2.0 and fostering the culture beautifully within the community of highly talented & productive makers. For the lack of a human interaction and physical activity component I try to attend at least 2 meetups per month-sometimes as many as one or two a week. This provides a nice balanced approach to a what can be a lonely place to be as a Maker. AlleyNYC founded by @saltzmanjason (hey J✌️) is my favorite coworking space while digital communities like Makerlog and WIP coupled with Meetups IRL have become vital for my mental sanity, happiness and thus...productivity.
Mohamed Said
A year ago I started cycling, first on a mountain bike alone in the desert around the place where I live. Then later a road bike, whenever I feel lonely I take the road bike and stop at every coffeshop or small market, buy a drink and usually someone starts talking to me about cycling. However, this is not enough. Small talk is nice but I really miss deep meaningful conversations. Tried facebook groups and chat rooms but there's always too much noise. The struggle is real :)
RemoteRant
Here's a tip @felipe_molina: If you watch a horror movie at night alone, I guarantee you won't feel lonely anymore. 🤷‍♂️ Jokes apart, get a pet if you can afford one. Pets especially dogs can easily sense loneliness and swing your mood or work from a cafe, get a dog, try co-working spaces, befriend a remote worker so you can work with him, or maybe find a girlfriend. My friend is a remote worker who befriended a remote worker like him who is working for another company and they used to work together sometime from cafes and after they used to go get some beers after work. That's how he used to fight loneliness. Or join the cross-fit community to find someone for working out together. So many ways are there to fight loneliness. I too had faced loneliness from time to time but now I know when to get off work and go chill with friends. This is the reason I created remoterant, so people can connect with other people and reveal realities of remote work 😄
Najeeb Khan
I'm solving this with CoWop that just launched - https://cowop.org It's a Remote CoWorking Members' Club