I’m sat in Costa Coffee. It’s the third time this week I’ve worked in this Costa. I’ve started recognising some of the other customers who come here to work.
Is that weird?
This is the thing about working for yourself from home. After a while you start to go a bit crazy. You need to be somewhere else. Not necessarily interacting with people but at least being around people. Humans are social animals, after all. Just like when my cat comes to sit near me without interacting, I sometimes need to be near people just to not be alone. To hear the background hum of human existence.
Fortunately for me, one of my friends is about to start working from home. We’ll be arranging to work together from time to time, not because we work on the same things but just to stay sane.
In a changing world, more and more people work from home. It has lots of upsides, but some downsides as well. There are lots of solutions. I know an arts centre that opens up two days a week for people to work in. A friend of mine hires a workshop space. Any given coffee shop probably has someone typing away at a laptop.
Because even if we work alone, no-one wants to be alone.
And now this sofa has a nice Andrew-shaped dent in it. It’s almost like being at home.