I saw them "virtually" for the first 4 years of my career because I was the one who left, but then the pandemic happened. Lived with my parents for the first two years of it so I'd have someone to talk to, but the fully remote work life either changed me or gave me new perspective.
Maybe it was going into the pandemic having just turned 27 and spending the previous year having a blast and coming out of it having the "almost 30" anxiety, but after the vaccines I started seeing friends regularly I hadn't seen in years. Eventually decided to just stay back. My employer had an office up here so I "transferred" even though I'm still by and large a remote employee.
I stayed inside playing video games for a number of reasons as my primary hobby during the first few years out of college. It was mainly me being depressed about not having any physically local friends, unfounded health anxiety, etc. Either way, 2019 (age 26) felt like a new dawn. I started making drastically more money, I started travelling - sometimes alone and sometimes with friends, etc. Started going to meetups. Then the damn pandemic. Next two years locked inside. Then I started regretting all those weekends spent inside.
So I got an apartment with an old college buddy around a dozen or more friends and am finally having a good time again. Not going to use video games as a replacement for a real social life. I'll keep playing them with remote friends, but it's a supplement to a healthy social life, rather than the only outlet.
I saw them "virtually" for the first 4 years of my career because I was the one who left, but then the pandemic happened. Lived with my parents for the first two years of it so I'd have someone to talk to, but the fully remote work life either changed me or gave me new perspective.
Maybe it was going into the pandemic having just turned 27 and spending the previous year having a blast and coming out of it having the "almost 30" anxiety, but after the vaccines I started seeing friends regularly I hadn't seen in years. Eventually decided to just stay back. My employer had an office up here so I "transferred" even though I'm still by and large a remote employee.
I stayed inside playing video games for a number of reasons as my primary hobby during the first few years out of college. It was mainly me being depressed about not having any physically local friends, unfounded health anxiety, etc. Either way, 2019 (age 26) felt like a new dawn. I started making drastically more money, I started travelling - sometimes alone and sometimes with friends, etc. Started going to meetups. Then the damn pandemic. Next two years locked inside. Then I started regretting all those weekends spent inside.
So I got an apartment with an old college buddy around a dozen or more friends and am finally having a good time again. Not going to use video games as a replacement for a real social life. I'll keep playing them with remote friends, but it's a supplement to a healthy social life, rather than the only outlet.
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