The Occasional Importance of Going to Coffee

Regardless of the logo in the photo, this isn’t an endorsement of Starbucks or any particular coffee shop… I don’t even really drink coffee. For me, the value of going to a coffee shop is in the journey and the scene, not in the beverage I choose.

In these days of working from home, which is an efficient, productive, and lower-stress version of office working in my case, I find that it is important to be around random people on occasion. Coffee shops, where there are all the noises and busyness of people, are a healthy addition to my weekly routines. Several hours in a coffee shop with a good book are enough to get my dose of exposure to unknown humans.

This is not something that can replace close relationships with friends and family, but an office environment is not that either. An office is an environment where you are obligated to spend 8+ hours a day with people you would likely not have chosen to have that level of exposure to, and is often a larger amount of time than one gets to spend with close people during an average weekday. It is not something that I think is necessary for emotional health.

I am not saying that one cannot find friends or develop close relationships in a work environment. On the contrary, many people do, and I have worked in offices where I have had friendships that have been valuable and cherished, but I have also worked in offices where all was obligation and any relationships in the office were not healthy nor productive.

The one consistent value to being in an office that I have found is the random exposure to an environment where there are people. But for me, there is no reason that needs to be an office. I can find the same humanity exposure and the chance to people-watch in a coffee shop on my own terms (with no enforced obligatory time frame each day).

So if you are like me and work remotely but do occasionally miss the noises and busyness of random people, maybe you should try a local coffee shop. It might just be the fix you need… and if you do drink coffee, maybe that can be “two birds with one stone”.