Given the choice between naturally waking up without an alarm clock, nicely buzzed from a night on the town, putting off showering to make a fresh, homemade Bloody Mary and then rubbing my dog’s belly, or … hopping hungover into the morning commute with spilled coffee on a newly dry-cleaned shirt, the coffee needed
just to get through the day, I’d choose the former. But what do I know? I’m just a freelancer living a freelancing lifestyle. Here’s why I choose to do it:
Happier, Healthier
Plain and simply, if you don’t like what you do, and you’d rather be doing anything else, your work can break you. Having strolled down the nine-to-five road only to find it’s a miserable cul-de-sac (for me at least), cornered by strangers I ‘d never normally meet, water-cooler chatting my way towards a fourth cappuccino over topics I’d never normally discuss, I realized something – I don’t even like cappuccinos!
I was trapped in a sunless space, doing four hours of work but stuck there for ten, my back aching and legs tightening, the personal projects piling and then, suddenly, the eye-twitching, heart-aching and lower abdomen pulsating. It was time to make a change back to good health and happiness. After all, what’s healthier or happier than getting to call the shots yourself, being totally in control of your life? Not much, from my experience.
Best of Both Worlds
You think flexibility when you think of freelance, but making each day separate from the last is truly a gift, breaking up the work so it comes in creative waves rather than long, painful stretches. Living the freelance lifestyle means not having to force the work but to let it arrive in a timely, inspirational manner.
Not feeling inspired in the morning? That’s cool. Take a couple hours to do something that sparks a few lightning bolts – riding a bicycle, walking the dog, making love – and when genius strikes, tackle it like boys over the last beer. If that means staying up until 2 o’clock in the morning with fuzzy vision and booze breath to get it done, that’s OK, too; it’s not like you have to be somewhere in the morning, besides in the kitchen mixing up more Bloody Marys.
The key to being a good freelancer is to have discipline but to also enjoy the freedom it brings. If you have something to do during the day – going hiking or to a matinee – then go unfettered, so long as you trade off work and play equally. You can’t have it all, but you sort of can, burning the midnight oil and rising with the rest of society as long as the work is there when it needs to be.
Completely Customizable
When taking an office job, you never know the full setup until you’ve set your khaki pants in the chair on day one. Then comes the terror of not knowing what you’re doing or where anything – like the spare bathroom – is and the painful reminder that there are four more days to follow before you can take off those uncomfy shoes you paid too much for. With freelance, you know what you’re getting yourself into and can work where you please, either in coffee shops full of scriptwriting sociopaths or at home without pants to encumber the creative flow. But if you can find a coffee shop with free Wi-fi that’s cool with you dropping trou, all the better.
The point is, you’re not subjected to 10-hour workdays when you know you’re only going to work two or three, surrounded by weirdos with aggressively off-putting comments about sexing the secretary and putting a quarter of your paycheck into sub-par sandwich shops that turn lunch into another senseless meeting. When you’re freelance, that time is all yours to be pants-off and worry-free wherever you damn well wish. Can I get an amen!?
If You Work for It, It’ll Work for You
Just because you trade your shirt and tie for a revealing house robe and slippers doesn’t mean you don’t have to work hard like everyone else. Seemingly, you have it easier, sipping your morning coffee at noon whilst your ass hangs out from under your robe, but nobody is around to make you work either, meaning you have to be motivated, disciplined and truly appreciative of this lifestyle.
The upside is if you really work for it, align yourself with responsible decision-making and create a quality body of work, you’ll reap the rewards of being happier, healthier and less confined. One thing though: If you’re going to freelance, you’ve got to have the right setup, some wireless devices, ways of getting the job done comfortably without the help of an office to supply. After you pay your debt to Apple, you’re in business to be your own boss, a truly underrated self-appointed title.
You Only Live Once
Working your life away, watching the dog get fat and having a constant stream of negativity in your voice isn’t worth slaving away to a boss who doesn’t appreciate the hard work. When you find something that makes you happy, freelance or otherwise, everything else falls into place. You’ll have your cake and eat it too, without any judgmental gluten-free eyes around and still have enough energy to celebrate with the common folk at the end of the day. Oh, and your dog will be skinny, too.
Sure, you’ll hear about the difficulty to maintain the freelance lifestyle, usually working harder to obtain, sustain and organize that type of work life, but the benefits can easily outweigh if you work hard enough. Anything worth having is perishable, at least according to Heisenberg, so if your job makes you feel dead from the waist down, change it, starting with the zesty goodness of a homemade Bloody Mary whilst your ass hangs out.
