Nervous that working from home will ruin my mental health - any advice?

[GoldenHours]

I start a new job soon and it's a bit of a career change for me. My previous job involved constantly being on my feet, walking around running up and down the stairs and being around lots of people. I would spend most of the day chatting and bonding with colleagues (the nature of the job allowed this). I would come home from work feeling happy, exhausted and fulfilled.

My new job is an office job and will be working from home 4 days a week and going into a quiet office 1 day a week. I'm really nervous about the change but ultimately it is the career path I want to go down. I'm mainly nervous about the sedentary nature of the job and the lack of social interaction. I don't have any friends in the town I live in at the moment so I'm worried that I'll start finding it quite isolating.

My mental health suffered when I was at university as I found it quite isolating being in my bedroom studying aside from the occasional lecture/seminar. It's only in retrospect where I can now see how depressed and anxious I was.

Does anyone have any advice?

Struggling to understand exactly why this is the career path you want to go down, judging by what you've said in your post...

If I were you I'd sign up for some exercise classes either before or after work

I think you are sensible to be thinking about how you can deal with this, it is a real issue for homeworkers.
Things I have seen that have helped:

• DS has an online club with workmates one lunchtime and one evening per week - it is not related to the job but is a mutual hobby - it gives these people who don't really know each other something to focus on communally and provides an ongoing topic of conversation. An advantage is that former workmates can still join in.
• getting involved with a local charity, eg foodbank, where you attend in person and meet people
• sociable hobbies that force you out of the house. If it was me moving to a new city/town alone, I'd be joining the local WI and Meetup. I think you do need to make a conscious effort to join in something regular.

@desperate4spring

Struggling to understand exactly why this is the career path you want to go down, judging by what you've said in your post...

My previous job was monotonous and poorly paid with not much scope for progression. I can't just stay there because I enjoy chatting with colleagues and being on my feet.

My new career path is something I have always wanted to do and will find much more rewarding.