Working from home - anyone else going stir crazy?

I’ve worked from home for a number of years now.
The first few years - brilliant, loved the flexibility.
The last couple of years I’ve found it increasingly isolated and sometimes find myself craving a busy office atmosphere, with more social interaction.
Probably doesn’t help that I live in a particularly rural part of South Wales!

I’m considering spending a day a week at an urban coffee shop, setting up in a corner with a steady stream of coffee and cake.
So I’m on the hunt for a scissors and thread friendly coffee shop, and was wondering if anyone else does the same?

Sarah x

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I have worked from home for more than 30 years now! The thought of having to work with and for other people now doesn’t appeal one little bit. Even being tied down once a week I would lose my freedom to do what I wanted when I wanted. I’m pleased to be able to sell more and more over the Internet too, cutting down on lugging everything to and fro from fairs. I have had plenty of social interaction throughout the years, possibly because I had 4 children. Also, I live in a fairly busy town. But if you feel the need to be more social go for it :blush: and you could think about voluntary work if you can’t find a lovely little coffee shop .

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I’m not really a people person and the last office I worked in had some characters (when you’re working on a presentation the last thing you really want to hear are the people in the other room talking about baby vomit or the bloke sat next to you clearing his throat repeatedly) so I don’t miss it. I think I’d forget how to talk to actual people if it wasn’t for all the craft fairs.
Have fun finding a friendly cafe, make sure you quality control the coffee and cake before making your final decision.

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Why don’t you look into some shared studio/craft space? It seems to have become a much more popular thing- much more of a collaborative environment and still gives you the freedom of when you go!
Not entirely the same but sort of- while my husband was doing his PhD for 5 years (up to last summer) he was mainly working from home. The uni he was based at closed the geography department a year into his PhD (it’s in historic climate change) so while he was really good at going around the country/world to conferences he found it quite difficult to stay motivated. Now that we’re in Canada and he’s doing a post-doc he’s based in a department and is absolutely loving it- he said just having people to bounce ideas off has meant in just the 2 months we’ve been here he’s come up with so many more ideas than he used to on his own. He says just being around like minded people really helps.

If there isn’t a shared studio available near you- it could be worth looking in to setting one up. A lot of people are now crafty at home and I’m sure a lot of them feel as you do. It could start small just around a coffee shop table or even someone’s kitchen table. Lots of community hall type places often let their space for free depending on what it’s for. Could be an idea. :slight_smile:
I know what you mean though- I start my new job in Canada today - so I’ve managed exactly 4 months of unemployment and while I technically had my artwork to turn to I’ve found myself much less motivated than when I was working full time! Haha

Good luck with it!

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More and more so over the last 2 years. Sometimes I go days without speaking to anyone. I prefer to be a bit more social. A lot of my friends have also moved away which doesn’t help either.

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I have mostly worked from home since 1971…with an occasional teaching job at adult education (arts and crafts and machine knitting)…but I LOVE being able to do my own thing…I have had cd’s on today and the tv and done two paintings…the dinner is prepared and I have tea and cake…If I want any socialising I can go out to town and am bound to bump into someone I know…nothing quite like being self employed and working from home
Waving from another part of South Wales…a beautiful view of the sea and across to Devon…much better than an office and four brick walls. x

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I don’t miss scraping ice off the car windscreen in the dark to sit in a traffic jam for an hour, no not one tiny bit. I don’t miss the irritating colleagues pontificating about football, who for some reason are so much louder than the nice people. I definitely don’t miss vending machine tea!

In winter I don’t venture out in bad weather, so conversation is a bit limited, but I get a lot of work done. One of the reasons for doing craft fairs all summer is to chat to all the other lovely crafters; interaction with like-minded people helps a lot.

Meanwhile, have you tried putting on the politics channel and shouting at the tv for a while :smile:

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I love working from home, i also home educate my child and have 2 older kids to taxi around, i dont have time to do alot more because i also suffer from chronic pain conditions. But i would like to have a bit of adult time sometimes!

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Thank you for all the replies, it’s really interesting reading through them.

I think for me it’s more the working from home in a rural setting, mixed with bad weather, being single and empty nest syndrome all at once :slight_smile:

Most of the time it’s okay, but this month I have really craved the workplace bustle, even the workplace tensions!
(Definitely wouldnt last long though, I’d be craving the peace and quiet and fleibility of working from home again within a week if I did go back!!!)

So - next week I’m going to upsticks once a week to a coffee shop for the day and see how that goes.

Sarah xx

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waving from Port Talbot…being isolated can be really good…no bitching and if you are cross you can always win the argument with yourself…lol
Enjoy your coffee shop trips…

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