| Allow me to write my rebuttal. Remote work is good for you. I started remote working just before the covid hysteria began. I used to view it with suspicion. If I work from home, then I will always be at work I reasoned. But by the time I had accepted to work from home, this was already the case. If the server went down at 2am, I had to get up and fix it, no matter what. Working remote wasn't a big change, I was still sitting at a desk with my laptop. My office interruptions went from colleagues to spouse interrupting my train of thought. But being untethered from the office opened up the whole world as a potential location. In fact, that is the reason I started remote working. I purchased a modest home outside the country at a very low price and intended to live there for a few years. The cost of living was so much lower, I was living a great life there too. It allowed me to save enough cash to buy another home here in the US. Of course, since I work remote, that means I could live anywhere in the US. Anywhere at all. Where would you choose to live if you could live anywhere? I didn't want to live in the city that I left. I left there because I could never afford a home there. I had no reason to go back to it. I didn't arrive at my answer quickly. I spent more than two years shopping around, weighing pros and cons, deciding what location fit my lifestyle the best. I tried to find a place that replicated my home outside the US as much as possible. Low cost of living, low cost housing, adequate passenger rail, walkable with no need for a car, low crime. A small town that is a short train ride away from the big city. Now that I've found it, the major expenses of my life are gone. I don't own a car, I have a bicycle. I don't have any debt. I owe no one a rent/mortgage check at the end of the month. Carrying everything I eat and drink home from the grocery store is a great way to stay in shape and avoid over-eating as well. Since my expenses are so low, I now enjoy a three day work week. We live on one income. I'm no longer responsible for server uptime. I can work whichever days I choose. I split my four days off. Two days of the week are for my side project ideas. The weekends are spent enjoying eating out, hopping on the train to explore a new station stop or revisit a favorite one. If we stay home, I do the cooking on Sunday for my spouse who cooked all week for me. I'm very stress free now. Despite living modestly, I consider myself richer than the billionaires of the world, because I have the one thing they'll never have: Enough. |