Choose your battles
The art of procrast… i mean, saying: i’m not dealing with that crap today!
I would consider that the greatest privilege of being a freelancer, working at home with nothing but deadlines, is being able to throw everything up in the air on a Tuesday, shouting “I’ll figure it out tomorrow”, while flashing the hang loose sign.
And believe it or not, i’ve heard you can make a lot of money on the internet nowadays — without having to sell your soul to TikTok and start doing NPC livestreams.
It's true! I know some programmers working as digital nomads while travelling around — those people make me think i should have put more effort into learning math. Damn it!
For us, mere mortals who work with words, it can be a bit more complicated. But we keep going! Our freedom won’t be sold, and also you can get beer for less than 24 crowns at ICA (2.3% alcohol, but who cares!).
It would be unfair to deny that after the pandemic, we finally understood that certain functions can easily be performed remotely. In my humble opinion, a hybrid work model would be ideal, and everyone’s mental health would drink to that.
Trust me: I’ve worked in companies with all that 9–5 style and i certainly know what it’s like.
There’s definitely a culture of surveillance with those whose job is to scrutinize every step you take, looking for something wrong to point out.
Or at least they just try to suck your soul out until your work hours are done. Nothing that a few bathroom breaks playing Temple run on your phone can’t solve.
What I really want to say here is that I find it very positive and comfortable to have the privilege of listening to our bodies and knowing when we’re not having a great day.
It works so well that most of the time, when I give myself a day off, it makes me more eager and energized to continue working on the next day, than if I had forced myself to be productive on a bad day. Trust me, it really works.
Only when I let a job drag on for too long, or when I have a looming deadline, do I deviate from this rule. But come on! There are days when all I really want to do is scroll through an uninteresting feed, with an apple cider on the side, singing Lily Allen or Gwen Stefani out loud. And the problem with that is?
It’s important to clarify that this extends to anything else, whether it’s having to reply a message from a relative or dealing with all the crap of a banking app.
We have to choose our daily battles wisely, with the firm conviction that we can’t win them all. But tomorrow is a new day, and I’m already flashing the hang loose sign.
