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Let me just start by saying this: I have worked from home for years, way before the pandemic.

I’m a self-starter, I’m very disciplined and I’m super-efficient. I don’t get distracted by Netflix and schedule my workouts outside of “normal work hours.”

And if I had to report back to the office, as many workplaces are demanding, it’s OK. I live within walking distance — if you consider 3 miles a reasonable length to walk.

So it may be strange for me — a working mom who spent an exhausting four months of the early days of the pandemic with a preschooler at home, a writer who works when creativity strikes, a born multitasker who loves the ability to check emails between laundry loads and take meetings on afternoon walks — to say this: Going back to the office can actually be a good thing.

This spring — as the omicron variant has waned and more Americans have gotten vaccinated — employers have started requiring workers to return to the office, at least part time. Some companies are offering perks to return; Google made headlines when it hosted a private show by pop star Lizzo and promised future pop-up events that will feature “every Googler’s favorite duo: food and swag.”

Educators, medical professionals and everyone who works at grocery stores, restaurants and Target returned months ago. (Some never worked from home.)

But those of us who have had the luxury of rolling out of bed at 8:51 a.m. to make a 9 a.m. meeting only partially dressed (from the waist up) are dreading the idea of going back to the office — to daily commutes, communal bathrooms, annoying coworkers and that one person who keeps burning popcorn in the microwave.

But there are benefits to working in an office — a non-toxic, productive one — that I completely support.

Before you stop the dishwasher to shoot me an angry email detailing all the reasons why we should never have to see the inside of a cubicle again, hear me out.

I do love the flexibility and freedom you get working from home. This is why I spent more than five years as a freelance writer, ditching the traditional office space for a small table in my living room with a window overlooking two avocado trees. (OK, sometimes those are distracting.)

But I had to hustle to earn a paycheck, often working long hours to make enough money to pay rent, buy groceries and keep my medical insurance. Could I surf in the middle of the day? Sure. Could I take a weeklong vacation to hike the Napali Coast? Yes. But did I? Very rarely. Because when I didn’t work, I didn’t get paid. And I had to be OK with that.

There’s no paid time off or sick leave when you work for yourself. I didn’t have free office supplies or IT support to call when my computer crashed. And there was no one to talk to about story ideas or complain about difficult editors — except my two dogs, but they have never been very helpful in that regard.

Now I work for a company that allows us to work from home. This started in March 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic — and we have all remained home since. We do have the option of using our office space, but most of us rarely do, for various reasons. And these reasons are the same for workers everywhere.

Some don’t want to sit in traffic for hours to and from the office — understandably so. Others don’t see the need, since we have become deft at using Teams, Zoom and Slack to get work done. And then there are the ones who don’t want to return to the office because, well, they like the freedom.

The freedom to do whatever, whenever, with whomever, for whatever reason.

And there’s the problem.

We all know those workers, the ones who don’t turn on their cameras during Zoom calls or aren’t available for meetings, like, ever. I have heard of workers who didn’t tell their bosses they were going on extended vacations — and pretended to be working from their homes instead. And I’ve come across Instagram accounts where people I know who have day jobs are hiking or taking Pilates classes or lounging at the beach during daylight hours.

Maybe these folks have special arrangements with their employers. Or maybe they were actually taking PTO. It’s not for me to judge. But I do know that some companies are requiring their workers to return to the office partly because of alleged abuse. Meaning out of sight (workers), out of mind (the actual work).

But that’s not the reason I think we should migrate back, at least in a hybrid way.

I miss the camaraderie of coworkers, connecting over similar interests or commiserating over that guy who burns popcorn.

For starters, we all need to stop wearing sweatpants and start brushing our teeth again. I haven’t worn lipstick since masks were mandated, and the one time in two years I wore my old heels — OK, slides — I got blisters. You feel good when you (try to) look good, and it would be nice to actually wear some of the better-than-athleisure clothes I impulsively purchased during the pandemic.

It would also be great to talk to real people. There are days when the only person other than my husband and 5-year-old son I interact with is the mail carrier — and I think she’s been avoiding me. I love talking through ideas with colleagues, chatting about projects and getting second opinions — and over lunch, even better.

I miss the camaraderie of coworkers, connecting over similar interests or commiserating over that guy who burns popcorn. Some of my closest friends have been people I have worked with in actual offices, and it’s really hard to make those strong connections over Zoom.

New employees, who started during the pandemic, don’t have any sense of the company culture or even know their own coworkers. How can you feel part of a company when you’ve never met anyone IRL?

While I love virtual meetings where I don’t have to be fully dressed, I do miss the ease of leaning over and asking my colleague a simple question. No need to schedule a Zoom call or check if he’s active on Google Hangouts. Plus, virtual meetings never account for “commute time” and I feel like people think it’s OK to book back-to-back-to-back meetings because, well, what else are you doing?

And we all need a break from work. I know people who hate working from home for the simple reason they have no separation between the two. You physically leave an office to go home. You can’t physically leave home to get home — you’re already there. Some people I know are good about boundaries, but many of us aren’t and find ourselves working more hours than we would have had we been in an office setting.

The ideal situation, to me, is this: A collaborative office environment that supports both in-person and work-from-home flexibility, companies that understand the needs of working parents who may have to take a kid to the dentist or stay home with them because someone in their class contracted Covid, employers who believe in the importance of PTO for their workers to keep them balanced and happy and co-workers who do their jobs.

Is that asking for too much?