Have you considered going for a walk?

One word: dog.

You can walk even without going to work fyi.

I did, but the enforced boundary between work and home is very important to me.

You can enforce that boundary with a walk before and after work.

Wake, coffee, walk, start work at 9. Finish at 5, put computer away, and walk for 15 min, your day is done.

I really wish I could be that organised.

It sounds like if you’re not WFH you are that organized. You can do it.

No. Just, no.

It's really arrogant how you assume you understand GP's situation better than themselves.

- "my employer needs to force me to touch grass or I will literally go insane"

This alone means wfh isn’t working and everyone should rtw /s

People get really defensive about remote work I guess? It wasn't just walking, there was also social isolation and being excluded that made it unbearable. And no real boundary between work and home. If you're doing an hour driving every day I can see why you'd prefer remote though.

Yeah, I'd like to come to your defense here. While I do prefer working from home, I totally get what you're saying about the routine of walking to work.

I used to bike commute about 7 miles each way up and down some intense hills; it was part of my routine, and I had to do it. Now that I'm working from home, sure, I could go out and ride 15 miles every day, but it becomes a matter of discipline.

Same with socializing. I tend to prefer solitude, so socializing, like exercising, now requires discipline – I have to make myself do it – whereas before it was baked in, and unavoidable.

People recommending a dog aren't wrong. I do have a dog now, and walk at least 5 miles a day. My dog is an idiot so I can't really do the dog-park thing, but if you have a non-idiotic dog, there's some socialization to be gained there, too. BUT: it's a big commitment, and will have an impact on big life decisions later on like what apartment you can rent, whether you live in a city or a suburb, how easy it is to take a vacation or travel abroad, etc., so it's not like it's a no-brainer or an easy solution.

Agree with all that but I know lots of people in suburbs who own dogs; I don’t think it’s exclusive to city people.

Have coffee meetings. I've been at home for 10 years, and I make a point to sip coffee while in zoom meeting about nothing.

I went back to waking up, getting dressed, making coffee, and going out for a walk and coming back home.

I solved the same problem by imitating my morning and evening routine. That is, I wake up, get on my bike, and ride - but not to the city, but in the opposite direction, into the forest. I relax biking and come back home. Then my daily starts and I'm full of energy. After I'm done with all my tasks, I repeat the same procedure, just explore some different paths. When I come back home, I no longer think of my tasks.

Our cities are so badly designed that we need an office as excuse to walk

You do realise that your employer does not own the outside and walking isn't only unlocked after clocking in at the office, right? Right?

No I hadn't realised that. Thanks!

I take my dogs for a walk every morning. I've worked from home for 10 years, and almost never miss a walk.