On a flip side, remote work may shift and fragment your schedule. If your employer is in a different time zone, your work time may shift and your free time now suddenly has less overlap with a free time of your family and friends. Part of the success at remote position is making yourself readily available and it can be easily abused.
I am not trying to talk you out of it, but it may happen that you will miss your 9-to-5 even with the commute.
I would tend to agree with you. I took up remote work about 18 months ago, after relocating to another country where no local work was available. While saving commuting time is certainly a big plus, there are a lot of downsides, including:
- not having colleagues to socialize with, and the stimulus of a professional environment
- not spending enough time out of the house
- having to deploy a substantial amount of willpower simply to follow a regular work schedule
- having no clear separation between work and home, which means I find it much harder to relax or "call it a day" than before.
I am not trying to talk you out of it, but it may happen that you will miss your 9-to-5 even with the commute.