I live in India and it has gradually become like this over the years, which is why barring my weekend treks (when I can find someone to go with), I never leave the house. I think I'm a hikikomori now. I don't have the urge to leave home at all.

With utmost confidence I can say that Indian life has, over the years, morphed into an all-or-nothing game. Even those who had WFH jobs are being called back in droves. The honey bee swarm of vehicles on the road starts as early as 6 in the morning and there is no semblance of a non-rush hour way until 12 or so. After traffic you've got monsoon flooding, summer heat, vehicle break downs, potholes, road rage, mile long traffic jams, and what not. ( motorbikes/scooters are the primary means of transport here, not cars).

I can confidently say that living in India has become an all or nothing game today. It's either you suffer and face all of the above nonsense and have a career (and by extension a social life (friends, invites to shopping, dates, parties, travel, yada yada yada)).

OR

withdraw into a mediocre existence and have nothing at all. no career, no friends, no invites to party or travel, nothing. It's exactly where I am right now.

Because of the anxiety I suffer from commuting on Indian roads (i did not grow up here) , and the two ER visits because of it, I have resorted to writing on my trekking blog and Medium as my "jobs". I don't even have a full time job right now (I am in desperate need of one). Getting jobs isn't the problem. I've always got one. Commuting to one is my problem.

(Like you said in the article: "you start applying for jobs, but you don't want to leave home.")

I had absolutely no problems holding down a WFH job (as a social media manager) during the pandemic. Its when they started calling me back to the office (which was more than 15kms away) that my anxiety resurfaced and I ultimately had to let go of the job. I've been unemployed since September 2020 due to that.