Achieving the Perfect Work-Life Balance

I began Freelancing in 2020 because it was my only choice at the time. I was a sales representative at a local agency but when COVID-19 pandemic struck, a number of us were laid off. As no businesses were hiring at the time, I decided to plunge into freelancing. It wasn’t’ easy at first, I was walking in strange lands but after a few attempts I got the gist of it. After a couple of months, I embraced freelancing as a career choice and got serious about it. I have always been passionate about writing and I had some experience as a graphic designer, so the choices were pretty easy for me. So, I set up different accounts for designing and writing and began hunting for work. Having been used to a work environment where everything was managed by an organization, freelancing meant taking control of my schedule. I failed miserably at first. I found myself spending a lot of hours on freelance work and neglecting everything else I used to enjoy in my life. I sidelined my friends and family as I obsessed when I was going to land my next gig. I ignored my hobbies and passions and got consumed by the insecurities of expenditure as I was always worried if I was handling my finances correctly and how I’d manage when work dried up. I decided to stop overworking, face my fear, and take ownership of my experience. Freelancing was supposed to give me the freedom to manage my time, but I was letting the process run me. If I didn’t get it under control, it was going to consume me. The first thing I decided to do was block out time dedicated to freelancing. I scheduled time for freelance work and didn’t give it a minute more when that time had run out. This dramatically improved my relationship with my clients and it allowed me to get started on a new passion project. I have always been interested in poultry farming and gardening since I was a child. It’s something I had fallen in love with while staying with my grandparents and I had gotten used to it. As an adult, I wanted to do it but working 8-5 six days a week left me with no time to work on those personal projects, it always felt like being held hostage without really being held hostage. Freelancing provided the right environment for me to make poultry farming a reality as there were no external forces pulling my attention and time. I decided where to be and what to focus on and that felt like freedom to some extent. The challenge is that sometimes I can forget about time and overspend it on one activity because nobody is watching me. This can set me back on other issues that demand my attention but learning to balance is work in progress. As I immerse myself into this world of freelancing and learning about time management and money, I am finding it easier to manage both activities. Once you learn to value your time and energy, things start getting aligned.