I have been working mostly from home for about 6 months now and, you know what? It can be really isolating at times! Like most of the time. I have fallen into a trap where I stay in my PJ’s all day, with my hair up in an odd shapeless bun and start working before I even had my breakfast.
Truth to be told, I was looking forward to working from home – my last employer had a rather toxic atmosphere so not having to deal with drama sounded very appealing. At the same time, I had not realised how work provided me with social interactions without me even trying – no need to make plans, schedule things. I could just talk to people there and then.
I am an introvert and a homebody by nature but I guess staying at home all the time and depriving oneself from quality social interactions cannot be healthy. Add the fact that I live in the United Arab Emirates and most of my friends and family are in Lithuania and the United Kingdom and it can get pretty depressing. I have to admit that I have somewhat struggled to get to know people in Dubai that I really connect with – Dubai is a great place to be but a large number of Western expats here focus on things that do not interest me (pool parties, yacht parties, beach parties… you get the idea).
Anyway, I admit I have been a little lazy in getting social but here are a few things I have been trying out to be less of a hermit:
- Scheduling at least one activity a week with a friend – it can be a lunch, a walk in the park or anything really. Key for me is to just actually make plans and stick to them.
- Mix up working from home with working from cute cafes. While this does not give what I call ‘high quality’ social interactions, it does force me to get out of the house, put some clean clothes on and brush my hair.
- I am on a lookout for interesting clubs and groups on meetup.com – maybe that will help me avoid the party crowd, Although, there seems to be a huge number of groups that focus on activities I precisely wish to avoid – a group for Drinking With Strangers… Actually, I will just set up a group myself and see if it gets any interest.
- Finally, being kind to myself. If I just feel like staying in and avoiding people, I will do so. Key is to make sure that I don’t stay in that state of mind for too long…
Does anyone else feel super anti-social at times?
x
