For all the benefits that freelancing offers (work in your pjs! make your own schedule! run errands any time of any day! you are your own boss!), there are lots of moments when it's not so great. Isolation, comparison, burnout and depression can all be a very real part of freelancing, too. While the ups and downs are normal parts of being self-employed, it's good to have a few tactics in your back pocket to be able to deal with the really low lows (that happen to ALL of us, by the way!).
Get social
No, we're not talking about social media. If you're feeling isolated or down, call or text a friend and make plans to get together to catch up! Getting out of the house and talking to other human beings in person is really good for our emotional health. Better yet, avoid talking about work! Get your mind off your work and talk about other parts of your lives. Or if you need to, ask your friend to let you vent your frustrations so you can get it out of your system and begin to laugh them off. The important thing here is to get out of your house and interact with a familiar face in person. Give your friend a hug and soak in the human interaction. Don't rush to get back home, instead taking a few extra moments as you walk slowly back to your car or take the scenic route home. The fresh air and friendly interaction will do wonder for lifting your mood and giving you fresh energy.
Journal
Often, feelings and ideas get bottlenecked in our mind when there's just lots to handle at once and only one little ol' you to do it all. A great way to release some emotions and make room for clear thinking is to journal. This can be on a computer, on your phone, on a random piece of paper in your kitchen, or in any notebook or journal with a blank page. It just needs to be a space that allows you to freely release thoughts and emotions. And if you're not looking for a method that lets you keep the journal entries, even just talking things out loud (yes, just to yourself) can do wonders. The key here is to release whatever thoughts and emotions are blocking you from being positive and productive.
Get physical
Getting blood flowing is good for your body AND your mind. This can be as simple as getting off the couch or office chair and going for a walk around the block. Just getting your body moving and getting a dose of natural sunlight awakens your mind and shifts your mood. The hardest part of this one is the initial moment of getting off your bum and moving! Be sure to reward yourself for small activities, even if it's just taking a stroll through the house. Want some motivation to get more walking in your day? Grab the app Walkadoo, which gives you a step goal for each day and helps you build your daily exercise one step at a time.
Pick up a hobby
If you've turned your hobby into your business, it's super easy to lose the original fun and passion that you had for it! We all need to have some interests outside of work, so consider picking up a new hobby that can be a way to unplug from your business stresses. It can be anything that your business is NOT! Are you fascinated by used stamps? Great! Love growing food in your tiny backyard? Fantastic! Have you always wanted to dig into medieval fashion and how it's interwoven into today's modern designs? Go for it! A hobby of any kind can provide a much-needed escape during the down times.
Unplug. Literally.
Seriously. Turn off that computer. Let your phone charge go to 0%. Don't answer every email the second it comes into your inbox. Stop mindlessly scrolling through pretty IG feeds. We live in a culture of information overload, and we all need to rest sometime. So if you're feeling the overwhelm, take a step back. Take a digital vacation and just disconnect from the online world. Create an auto-responder message for your clients to let them know that you'll respond to any requests within the next 48 hours (or however long you choose to take for yourself), and step away from any electronic device. This will leave an incredible amount of time to spend with friends or family, to go for a walk, to listen to music, to read, or to take an extra long nap.
Unplugging also helps to put a pause on the comparison monster. You know the one - you look at all those gorgeous pictures on IG and drool over the perfection. Why can't my office look like that? Man, I don't look that put together when I go pick up my Starbucks! She has perfect make-up on for a walk with her dog! And then... My life looks nothing like that. I never look that good when I go get the mail from the mailbox. I could never get my eyeliner to look that good. My house is tiny and messy; I can't show that disaster to my followers! STOP. Social media feeds are created to show only the pretty, not the real. So when you see that gorgeous kitchen, it probably never looks like that on the daily. When you see the influencer with perfect make-up as she goes to the bank on a Tuesday morning, know that she makes money from sponsorships and preps for hours for each video. Social media is not real. Real life is complicated and wears stretchy pants and throws her hair in a messy bun (that never seems to look like a pretty messy bun, just a messy one). One way to stop the addiction to comparing is to go cold turkey. Disconnecting from social for at least a couple of days will do wonders for regaining a bit of perspective.
Look at the bigger picture
We all have big goals, but it's easy to get caught up in the daily overwhelm and lose track of the big picture. Take 30 minutes to consider your long-term goals. Think big! Think about the timeline to get to that big goal of yours. Be realistic in your expectations and cut yourself a little slack for being human. Suddenly, you may find that having a super slow month really doesn't mean that your business is doomed. Or you may realize that to get to that big goal, you have to transition from one thing to another, and transitions can feel like major low points. Keep your eye on the prize and be kind to yourself. Those big lofty goals of yours will still be just as attainable after stepping away from the chaos for one day.
Conclusion
Freelancing has loads of benefits, but it also has lots of pitfalls. You work weird hours in a small bubble, often all in one room by yourself. Isolation, comparison, and depression can be a real burden. Be kind to yourself because yes, you're human, too.
Do you have any other tricks for when you get in that freelancing funk? Let us know in the comments! You may have just the answer that someone else is looking for.