JB - In the end, you will decide what works for you and most of us will respect that.
For me, FredW said it all best.
I rode everywhere for 10 years. 20-40k a year, fun rides, trips and commuting every day. Around 1993 I had a couple of incidents where people tried much harder than normal to kill me while commuting to work in a high density environment. Riding stopped being fun and became a high stress, high risk activity. I did what you no doubt have done and spent some time thinking about it while still riding.
Then I sold the bike and bought a Miata. The Miata was fun, I did the group thing, joined the local club and let myself become a bit more social. But every Spring, hearing a bike go by would make me long for riding again. I did track days an autoX in the Miata, but still missed riding. I did this for ten years. The Miata thing transitioned when I bought a house and sold the car for more down payment. I bought another, but it wasn't the high performance of the one I had sold, just a beater to have some fun with. In the end, it became just a small car that was ok on gas and not that great a commuter.
Then one day I realized I still missed riding. A friend was returning to riding after 40 years and it got me thinking more about what I did to relax and have fun. I realized that list was pretty short. I thought about what I liked most from riding and what I liked least and realized that I liked going places on the bike. Seeing things from that perspective, being part of the world, not just traveling thru it enclosed in a cage.
So I bought another bike. What I decided was to change my riding environment though. No commuting. I only ride for fun. My fun might not be your fun, but the point is that my choice removed me from the high density traffic and combat commuting that was the root of what caused me to stop riding before. Sure, there will always be traffic, but not every day, twice a day, at the exact worst times to be mixed in with distracted drivers.
Ask yourself if you enjoy riding, or enjoy the rush. If the latter, move on to something else. But if you enjoy riding, stop commuting and consider learning to ride The Pace. It's not slow, but it is different from the brake in throttle out method. Learn to be patient. If you aren't so focused on getting somewhere on time, you don't need to perform all the aggressive moves you're accustomed to doing. You may feel those moves are under your control, but they always increased your risk margin, both by putting yourself in places drivers didn't always expect you to be, and by pissing off other drivers, (justified or not). You used to find all that traffic cutting fun, but it still increased your risks by a large margin over a non-commute ride that didn't need them.
Oh, the friend? He and I spent several years riding together. We saw a lot of the country and had a lot of fun times together. He sold his bike last year and retired, heading in other directions. I'm still riding as much as ever, but with different partners, mostly my wife.
