Earlier this year I started freelancing. I had visions of waking up when I wanted and working in my pajamas and all that stuff. While much of it has been true a lot of it was just fantasies that quickly fell by the way side.
The one thing that I did not predict is the isolation that I would feel. At a more traditional workplace, you are surrounded by people and have adult interactions every day. As a freelancer, you do not have that, and you can quickly become isolated and let stuff such as hygiene and sleep and healthy eating go.
It came to a point about a couple of weeks ago when I had to admit that I felt genuinely isolated, lonely even. At first it was strange because I had never felt that way before. Once I realised what it was I decided that I had to do something about it and came up with these ten ways to feel like I am part of humanity once again.
Get Out of the house
When I began freelancing, I had the habit of staying in the house in my PJ’s. That soon got old so I started looking for ways to get out of the house. I have a paperless office so I would go work at a coffee shop or the library. This prevented me from going crazy like that dude from “The Shining” did.
Keep in contact with friends
Granted most friends complain that after a hard days work at a “real” job they are too tired to talk. This is where other friends that are freelancers come in. Still I try and keep contact with friends in more traditional jobs. You never know where your next job will come from, so it is important that you remain in touch with as many people as possible.
Have hobbies that let you interact with real, live, people
I am a sucker for anything online, but at the end of the day it is still you, alone behind a computer typing away. I have joined book clubs and the like just to have face to face time with real, live humans.
Keep regular “office” hours
I admit this one is hard to keep in the beginning. You are really excited and spend all your waking hours to move your business forward. I am guilty of this. A wise friend told me that this is the recipie for burn out so I have tried to take a couple of hours at least, everyday to do non-work things.
meet other freelancers and network
like I have said above, people in tradinal jobs are often tired at the end of the day and just want to veg out in front of the TV. Other freelancers won’t mind hitting the bar or something else with you. Also, other freelancers can be an abundant support of jobs. It pays to keep your network as wide as possible.
get active on social media
I know, I know what I said above. Still if you are in a small town like me, then social media can be a saving grace. It has allowed me to meet a lot of people, many of whom I communicte with every day.
take a class at the local community college
This is a another way of meeting people and getting out of the house. I haven’t done this myself yet, but I will someday.
join a meet-up
I have joined meet-up before. I have met some people that evolved into a life long friendship. There are thousands of meet-ups (check ). If there is not one in your area, you can start one.
Try a co-working space
I have heard good things about this, but I haven’t tried it myself yet. I live in a small town where there is not any (that I know of). If you reside in a big city it may be worth looking into. These are areas that have conference rooms, desks and telephones and most importanly real live humans you can interact with.
Volunteer
If there is a cause that you feel passionately about, you can look for volunteer oppertunies to help that cause. You could work to feed the homeless, take care of pets at a shelter, the possibilities are endless
I admit that I need to get out more. Recently I have been feeling like the four wallas are closing in and that I am in danger of recreating the murder scene from The Shining. There are a couple on this list that I have not tried so I will look into them soon. How do you keep from going stir crazy working alone?