8 months into remote work. I think some people aren't built for it and I might be one of them

I know this is an unpopular thing to say in this community. Everyone here fought for remote work. Many of you are defending it right now against RTO mandates. I respect that and I'm not arguing against remote work as a concept.

But I'm 8 months in and I need to say something honest: I think some people, maybe including me, are structurally unsuited for it.

I have tried everything the advice posts suggest. Dedicated workspace. Routine. Exercise. Social scheduling. Coworking once a week. A daily walk. I do all of it. It helps at the margins. The core problem remains.

The core problem is that I need the physical structure of going somewhere to become a worker. Without it, I drift. Not because I'm lazy. Because my brain does not switch modes without a change of environment. The commute, the office, the presence of other people doing the same work, those were not inconveniences I endured. They were scaffolding I needed.

Removing the scaffolding did not reveal a more productive version of me. It revealed a version of me that sits in the same room for 12 hours and cannot tell where the workday begins and the rest of life ends.

I know some people read this and think I just haven't adjusted yet. Maybe. But 8 months is a long adjustment period and the trend is not improving.

I am not going to quit this job because it's good work and I need the income. But I am quietly looking for roles that are hybrid or in-person, not because I want to sit in traffic, but because I've learned something about myself that the remote work narrative doesn't leave room for.

Not everyone thrives without structure. That's not a character flaw. It's a self-awareness.