I currently work remotely and enjoy it for a lot of the reasons you say. However I've had a pretty tough time with loneliness. I moved to a new city (relationship reasons) which is always challenging, but I think remote work has made those challenges particularly acute.
I think of myself as a fairly social person (at least relative to software engineers) but I've struggled a bit with this one.
Coming up on 6 years of remote work and I’ve found that if it weren’t for my wife (who works locally), I’d have zero friends within a 2,000 mile radius. She has basically built our entire social fabric from the various jobs she’s had locally. I could see how being single and being remote could run a toll.
Suggestion:
Go to meetups (tech or otherwise) and other social activities. I've found this to be the best way to meet people who have a shared interest and are looking to be social. I've been remote for most of my career and this has been so important to my ability to stay remote. Yes it will be awkward at first, but it won't take long to meet enough people to make friends and it really only builds on itself from there.
I struggle with this sometimes myself. I also consider myself to be very social, unfortunately I live in a country where people don't speak to eachother unless there is a reason for it.
But if you want, hit me up on hn@ecmascript.tv and we can talk further.
I think of myself as a fairly social person (at least relative to software engineers) but I've struggled a bit with this one.