How To Take Care Of Your Mental Health As A Freelancer
With Mental Health awareness month in full flow, today we wanted to discuss how important it is to take care of our Mental Health during work, especially if you are a freelancer. As a freelancer, you likely understand what it is like to work alone and you’ve probably adapted well to motivate yourself to do the work. After all, if you don’t then who will. Unlike the normal 9-5 job, we don’t have access to HR and systems in place to help us monitor our mental well-being. So what can we do?
Give Yourself A Break
When working for yourself, it can be extremely tempting to work, work, work none stop. As it’s your business, the love for it runs high, and with this love comes the temptation to overwork yourself. But for our well-being it is important we have a routine and give ourselves proper breaks.
Whether that break is for 20 minutes, 60 minutes, or longer you are in control of it and you decided what works best for you. On that note, what we do in our breaks is also important. Maybe you might find that simply sitting and relaxing is your ideal way to stay calm. Or taking your break to go for a walk and get fresh air, might be better for you.
Whatever it looks like, taking a break is key to not becoming overwhelmed and keeping a healthy mind.
Eliminate The Clients That Cause You Stress
As mentioned, as a freelancer you are in control of every element of your work life. And with that means you pick your clients. And so whilst, it is likely most of your clients are great there may be the odd one who doesn’t understand your work or is simply not aligning up with your brands ethics. If this is the case, then they are probably causing extra stress for you, which ultimately results in affecting your mental health.
On that note, you must know when it is time to cut cords with a client, and don’t be afraid to do so. If you aren’t able to decide what works for you and what doesn't, then go back to when you first started working as a freelancer. Ask yourself why you decide to become one. We suspect it was because you want control of your work and so with that control comes deciding what work you want to invest your time in and what you don’t.
Sign Up For Classes That You Enjoy
Whilst we might not have a manager telling us that we will be taking part in a workshop this week etc, this is something we can still do for ourselves. Whether it’s, yoga, learning a new skill, therapy, over zoom, or in person, there are many options available to us.
Simply taking to google and searching up a local class, is the first step. You might find something you can do once a week that helps take your mind off work and encourages you to relax.
To conclude, working for yourself means it is just as important to take care of your well-being, as it would be if you had a team of co-workers. Ensuring, you have a good work/life balance will enable you to focus more and achieve a high quality of work. Ultimately, resulting in you becoming more successful. We say it’s a win, win.
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