It should go without saying that freelancers spend the majority of their time alone. On the other hand, you will have long periods of uninterrupted peace, quiet and tranquility – perhaps for the first time in your professional career. No longer will you have a valid excuses for being unproductive, but it’s still easy to confuse a lack of motivation for loneliness. Believe it or not, but working in complete solitude is not always what it’s cracked up to be.
Freelancers that both live and work by themselves are even more prone to becoming hopelessly lonely. There are several practical things that you can do to avoid feeling sullen, withdrawn and alone, but it might take some time before you get the full benefits. If you don’t like the idea of living in doom and gloom for any period of time, you’ll need to fight the telltale signs of freelancer loneliness as soon as they become apparent
Stay Connected and Take Regular Breaks
Freelancers usually work solo, but that doesn’t mean that they should forget about having social lives. Even if you work long hours and live miles away from your closest friends, a quick phone call to your loved ones will make you to feel completely refreshed. Establish set times in which you plan to reach out to your friends, and then do it. Whether you need to reconnect or simply need to keep the lines of communication open, you can ward off loneliness by keeping your social calendar full.
Improve Your Mood by Getting Active
If you’ve been feeling tired, depressed and sluggish lately, it may be because of a lack of physical activity. As a freelancer, you’ll be endlessly tempted to eat microwave dinners instead of healthy meals, but it is important that you keep your overall health in mind. Not only will being more active stave off feelings of loneliness, it can also help you to complete your work faster and more efficiently.
Joining a gym isn’t necessary, but you should strive to get outside of the house as much as possible. If jogging outdoors during the winter months just isn’t your forte, find out if there are any fitness groups at your local community center.
Checkout Cooperative Workspaces
When healthy living and chatting with friends isn’t enough, a complete change in your freelance work setup may be necessary. Welcome to the age of cooperative workspace facilities. Originally designed to give entrepreneurs and small business owners access to affordable offices space, the world of freelancing was quick to catch onto this growing trend.
For no more than a couple of hundred dollars a month, freelancers can have unlimited access to their very own cooperative workspace, complete with answering services, receptionists and access to private conference rooms. What’s more is that you will be able to socialize and network with likeminded individuals. For those that live in rural areas or live in cities where cooperative workspaces aren’t yet plentiful, there’s always the option of joining local freelancers groups that host live monthly events.
Even with all of these preventative measures in place, you’ll probably still feel lonely from time to time. Figure out which methods help you to snap out of your ‘funk’ the quickest, then implement them as quickly as possible. For most freelancers, dealing with occasional feelings of loneliness still beats going back to a regular 9-to-5.
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