“You remote, so you must be having a blast”

No. I mean yes. It’s both. It’s awesome and it sucks. And it can happen at the same time. If I look out the window and realize where I am and how I’m trying to live my life, it’s awesome, if I look at my screen, check Slack and see what I’m missing (explicit food pictures, jokes, outings and other little things) it suddenly sucks. It’s real. So, what do I do about it?

I recently returned from a trip to Buenos Aires. I got together with family, friends and I also went to the office, with my teammates. I miss those fleshy three-dimensional beings. Truth is, that fear of missing out is tiring. Being at the office is a reality check. You get to observe what is really happening in the room full of people and then you can contrast your observations with what you thought was going on in your head. Let me tell you this. My thoughts, they escalate quickly. Such divergence, wow. The takeaway is, when those sneaky thoughts appear, I need to remember what’s it like to be in the same room. I know, I’ve been there, and it’s not like the party will get started as soon as I leave the building. So this is part one, the sucky part and how exercising memory may help a little bit.

“How’s the remote life?” they ask. “It’s awesome! And it can be frustrating, it’s hard! but it’s awesome” I reply. “Yeah, you’re having a blast” they reply back. That’s when I realize that I can’t really sum up the remote life in a few words or sentences and expect everyone to know what remote means to me precisely. Sometimes, when going through a trough, what you really want is a pat in the shoulder and someone that says “I know the feel, bro”, and when you’re high on remote, someone that nods at you and says “I know, right??”

If your remote life is awesome, it’s because YOU are making it awesome, not because remote is inherently awesome. So go, and make your remote awesome. Because awesome.

Happy remoting!