A day off. I remember those. A real day off. No thinking about my work. No emailing about my work. No time spent jotting down the work to-do that just popped into my head that I must take care of as soon as I get back to my computer. Every day for 7 months I’ve done something related to work.
This weekend my friend, Tom, and I talked about this reality of the freelance life. He is a freelancer also (9 years and counting!) and though he certainly takes downtime, he spends almost every day doing something that’s related to his work. I thought I was the only crazy who did this. Tom assured me that this is often a fact of life for freelancers. It comes with the territory.
You might think that sounds awful, but it’s not. Both Tom and I agreed that we’d rather have the flexibility in our schedule and physical location that freelancing allows in exchange for days off.
Loving the work I do also helps. Most of the time the work doesn’t even feel like work. I never groan when I have to wake up in the morning, no matter how early it is. I don’t have a daily grind. I don’t have work stress that spills over into any other area of my life. For the first time in my life, I feel like my future is entirely up to me and that sense of empowerment is priceless.
It’s no coincidence that the word “freelancer” contains the word “free”. There is no better feeling.
Christa Avampato 