I have been working from home this year, by myself, and it has been hard to meet people and socialize. By the time I am done with work I am pretty much exhausted since I work long days.

I do go out every now and then in the evening, but I realize that being by myself all day makes me less social (in comparison to how I was before the current situation).

Anybody out there in my situation? Any recommendations? I have been thinking of taking longer lunch breaks and trying to meet some people, maybe going for happy hour drinks in the area on a daily basis.

Any thoughts are welcome.

djzulu said:

I have been working from home this year, by myself, and it has been hard to meet people and socialize. By the time I am done with work I am pretty much exhausted since I work long days.

I do go out every now and then in the evening, but I realize that being by myself all day makes me less social (in comparison to how I was before the current situation).

Anybody out there in my situation? Any recommendations? I have been thinking of taking longer lunch breaks and trying to meet some people, maybe going for happy hour drinks in the area on a daily basis.

Any thoughts are welcome.

Click to expand...

djzulu,

I've worked from home for almost 8 years. It does change you. But I'm not about to let it go.

Consider an internet dating site. I've used Match.com, both to game and find more serious relationships. Its worked for me quite well for both. Sifting wheat from chaff is as difficult as anywhere else. But it does work.

Like you, I was going out - during the day sometimes and at night. And I do quite a lot of travel for my work. I was having a lot of trouble finding and qualifying women. With Match, things became much more active.

Find a site you like. 'Plenty of Fish' is free thogh the quality of women is spotty. There are many others. But Match is all I need.

You get to do a lot of screening via email and phone. That helps. By the time you go out with a few women, things will open up, at least they did for me.

You can find a lot of critics of this approach. Maybe I'm just lucky. Its been good for me.

Take a shot.

Best,
Tictac

I do go out every now and then in the evening, but I realize that being by myself all day makes me less social

Click to expand...

I actually think the workplace makes me less social. I'm naturally introverted (not shy, introverted), so interacting with people all day tends to wear me down, and by the end of the day I want to get away from them. Where if I wasn't exposed to that all day I would probably be more inclined to go out and do something.

Most people will tell you also, not to get involved with women you work with, so from that perspective you're not losing anything. However, I've been guilty of dating girls I've worked with, just because I work an off shift and I'm not on the same schedule as the rest of the world. It's more convenient to see people working the same shift as you.
You do miss out on having some guy friends to hang out with that you would probably meet in a regular work environment.

The daily happy hour idea is probably good. Then when you become an alcoholic, you can meet people through AA meetings too
Maybe you could join a gym and meet some people? Church? Some sort of class you would be interested in?

zekko said:

The daily happy hour idea is probably good. Then when you become an alcoholic, you can meet people through AA meetings too

Click to expand...

Hehe.. just was talking to this woman few minutes ago who attends AA meeting and has a crash on one of the guys there who is married with kids.

AA meetings I'm there:woo:

The happy hour bar seems over rated. Have been trying that. I do think having your place to go is cool. Comfortable place to take a date.

Maybe a hobbie? I think I'll work that one next. Thinking cards but would like direct girl contact not guys night out. Besides yoga and dancing what is there? Maybe a class.

I'm stuck in a small office and feel the same way as you at home. No social interaction.

I dont work at home, but I do work in relative isolation all day. I have a cubicle and basically come and go as I please. I work in research, so there is no schedule, just projects I have to move and when or where I choose to work is up to me.

This might sound like a dream, but it has it's drawbacks. Being in front of a monitor all day is not the ideal way to spend your life. All of my work is based in either writing papers or data mining of medical records so I have to be on the computer. Which, if you have the attention span I do, often amounts to doing a lot of other bs (like posting on the forums, lol). All in all it's a decent job; and I'm only doing it until I start grad school. But since I work alone (the other people in the office are all doctor's secretaries), I find it easy to just come in, do my thing, hit the gym, and come home and play xbox or whatever till bedtime. Routine can be good, but there are many days I wished I had a bit more interaction in my life. I do things on the weekends, and I have a gf (which doesn't really count as socializing)...but really what I miss the most is just having a group of friends that I see all the time.

So, in regards to working from home....man I would never do it. I'd go stir-crazy.

Online dating can keep options flowing. But like TicTac said, sifting through the generic 'everygirl' and the ones you actually want to pursue is as difficult as anywhere else. It's just another venue to meet people.

Thanks for the replies! I stare at monitors all day (a lot of them) and probably have more computers laying around than I would have ever dreamed of. I think it's time to make a serious change because I don't think I can continue like this.

I make good $, I am better off financially then most of my friends but this thing has basically taken over my life. I feel that I have to spend all of my free time figuring out how to meet more people and go out which leaves no time for hobbies etc.

Colosus : when are you going to grad school? Have been contemplating the idea for a while now, I feel that in college you get a lot of interaction with intelligent people.

djzulu said:

Colosus : when are you going to grad school? Have been contemplating the idea for a while now, I feel that in college you get a lot of interaction with intelligent people.

Click to expand...

You do, def more so in grad school. Undergrad is mostly interaction with hungover retards. I'll likely be going next June. Depends on the program I get in to.

I am actually in grad school myself. There are plenty of intelligent girls, but meeting them is not easy. If you are like me, you will be in your office almost all day working. Then when you get out, the only girls around are the undergrads. Which is not that bad since they are hot, but may not be what you are looking for. For me personally, I feel a little dirty approaching undergrads in bars, since they could potentially be one of my students in the future semester (I teach as part of my funding).

Also, depending on what field you are in, you may not have interaction with other hot grad students. I am in a quantitative field dominated by men, so the only girls here are not that hot. The hot grad students are much harder to find, and are in their own little world which I have not found yet where that is.

But no matter what, being at a university puts you in a place which is loaded with single chicks. I have taught a couple of times too, but I have not mustered the courage to approach a former student yet. Mostly because I am worried about if they feel offended I might get in trouble, and that is not worth it for me. But I know people who do it and have been successful so this is also another potential benefit.

Yeah hard science fields like the chems and physics are mostly male-dominated. Bio disciplines attract more women...but often they are not lookers! I met a couple cute chicks in my old ortho bio-mech lab, and they were all going for med school.

I have worked from home ever since the middle of 2005. It is "harder" but it also makes you get your game tight or become a recluse.

I found that i have to make myself go out more. even when I dont' want to I do something not around the house at least 3 nights a week, becuase I'm always at home or the gym

I have/had friends in AA but not to be mean or anything.. there are some wierdos in AA and adds alot of drama that regular friends dont' give you. not worth going to just to meet people, hell I'm an addict and I ask myself is it worth it to go to meetings now. at times it doesn't seem worth all the trouble.

sometimes I take my **** and will at starbucks or the local coffee shop all day, i do that once or week or when my GF is pissed at me for some reason (she doesn't work)

you just have to make yourself go out and do things. let me rephrase. you have to put more effort into being more sociable and your social life than if you had a regular job

I have worked from home ever since the middle of 2005. It is "harder" but it also makes you get your game tight or become a recluse.

I found that i have to make myself go out more. even when I dont' want to I do something not around the house at least 3 nights a week, becuase I'm always at home or the gym

I have/had friends in AA but not to be mean or anything.. there are some wierdos in AA and adds alot of drama that regular friends dont' give you. not worth going to just to meet people, hell I'm an addict and I ask myself is it worth it to go to meetings now. at times it doesn't seem worth all the trouble.

sometimes I take my **** and will at starbucks or the local coffee shop all day, i do that once or week or when my GF is pissed at me for some reason (she doesn't work)

you just have to make yourself go out and do things. let me rephrase. you have to put more effort into being more sociable and your social life than if you had a regular job

backbreaker : I agree, and am already starting to go out more often. I am also thinking of a way to change my career to something that will involve more people.

It might be a little late to change stuff around right now (am 36) but I think that it's better later than ever.