A good friend asked me this yesterday when we were at her place for tea. (From time to time, she thinks of staying home with her 2 girls and giving up her high-paying corporate job, but her hubby doesn't think it's a good idea, so they're still playing the safe double income-2 kids-maid game.)
People tend to think that when you're working for yourself, it's all rainbows and sunshine and all your rat race problems are forever banished.
I thought for a moment before answering.
"The greatest challenge is self-discipline," I ventured. "When you're working for yourself, it's easy to get lazy and complacent because no one's chasing you to do things. That said, it's great to have time to sit down and really enjoy a good book!"
We both smiled.
Now that I've had a bit more time to ponder her question, I might also add that the past 12 months of leading the freelancer's lifestyle has had its economic costs (don't get me started!), but it's also liberated me in more ways than I ever imagined. It's given me a priceless gift: TIME. I have time to think, to reflect, to breathe, to enjoy being a mother and homemaker, to revel in the sheer joy of having so many options and possibilities before me, and to allow my mind to expand as I contemplate the ideas of brave, adventurous individuals who dare to practise what they preach.
Could I not have achieved all this and still hung on to my day job? Perhaps another individual might have accomplished it, but I know myself. After 11 years, I've figured out that I'm just not a corporate jungle type of person. I shudder to think of all the survival tactics required if I really want to outshine my peers, and what they would cost in terms of my character development. Am I an escapist? Perhaps. But this one thing I know: if I had not forcibly let go of the lifestyle I knew to embrace the one I didn't, I would not be where I am now - and now is where I'd rather be, however many zeroes any employer might add to my payslip.
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