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Comment by newusr429 | Hacker News Reader

I was the biggest advocate for WFH in the last year but recently I feel pretty down. Life feels so repetitive. Part of it is possibly lockdown, but a bigger part I think is that I have way more free time to think about things. All the shitty things about open office and commuting seemed to serve as a distraction that kept me more occupied. It's weird. I'm not saying WFH is bad, but there are definitely some effects that I hadn't anticipated.

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For me it's slacking of at the office without feeling guilty. Taking 10 minute coffee breaks, walking 5 minutes to the next toilet. At home I have far less interruptions and feel the need to be constantly available in Teams.

That's just your own private imaginary wall that you built up in your mind. Nobody else had a hand in putting it there.

Just tear it down and resist the urge to be always available. It gets much easier over time, I promise.

Yep, it's groundhog day. Wake up, make coffee, sit down at the computer. Everything having anything to do with work happens on that screen. Every day is the same.

But what's different? Before, it was:

Wake up, make coffee, drive an hour to work, sit down at the computer. Everything having anything to do with work happens on that screen. Every day is the same.

I hate to be cliche, but social encounters and the mythical "hallway conversations" are what stop work from being groundhog day for me. Very little productivity happens on the computer, that's just the time to write up whatever solution I've spent my day working on away from said desk.

I used to eat with some colleagues every week despite them being in a different team. Now, I don't bother even dropping a private message. It sounds silly, written out, but it's also means of death of many of my adult friendships and acquantances. And if I had joined the company in this climate, I wouldn't know them at all.

So in other words, you would rather take the blue pill?

Sounds like removing the distractions gave you time to think and allowed you to see things more clearly. That sounds great! Now you can face the things that came up head on rather than distract yourself from them. Why would you want to 'sleepwalk' through life instead via constant distractions? Maybe there is more to life, and getting rid of distractions is the first step to realizing it.

Me to, exactly this and going into the office a few days a week has really helped me in the last few weeks.

then go drown your tears in triple distilled vodka you big baby.

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