It’s almost time: I’m about to “go on maternity leave.” Except I’m not “going” anywhere. I’m not “leaving” anything. My work, rather, is leaving me, at my own request. Essentially, I am becoming voluntarily unemployed for several weeks, hoping that when I’m ready, the work will return, like a boomerang I’ve never thrown before. It’s supposed to return. There’s no reason to suspect it won’t. But that’s assuming I executed the throw correctly. On my first try.
The limits of financial security
When starting to freelance full-time several years ago, I began hearing what is by now a familiar statement from people:
“I can’t imagine not knowing how much money I was going to make each month. I don’t think I could stand the insecurity of not knowing.”
Is my Fitbit step count supposed to go into the negatives? Tackling the biggest freelancing quandary.
It is the most common complaint of the freelancer: being cooped up in the house, lots to do, nowhere to go, no human contact in the near future and the seven steps between the desk and the kitchen are the only bits of exercise expected for the day.
Sigh. It’s the kind of thing that makes me wonder sometimes if I’ve picked the wrong career. No matter how much I love the outcome, is it worth it if this my everyday? When all of my friends started getting Fitbits a few months ago, I couldn’t even entertain the thought, because who needs to confirm that the number of steps I take each day doesn’t always make it into the double digits? Does Fitbit automatically call an ambulance if your vital signs are too much like those of a comatose person? On the other hand, can it detect pending bedsores or deep vein thrombosis? Am I seriously a person who worries about these things?
Freelancers worry about these things.
Natalie Burg 