Working From Home: Me Myself, & I.

I work from home full time, which is a pretty recent thing (3 weeks!). I am LOVING life and my job, and this is the first time in my adult life that I am excited to go to work every day and that I make my own schedule.

The positives far outweigh the negatives in my new lifestyle. I can travel more (and have!), as I can work from anywhere with wifi (like a New Orleans cafe, or my sister's house). I can make my own hours (all of them), I can stay in my PJs and not shower that day (it happens). I can take on new clients, or not. I can choose the type of work that I'm doing. I am my own boss.

But there are certainly a few small drawbacks. It's easy to oversleep. It's easy to slack off when no one is watching. It's easy to keep working well past business hours. It's easy to get distracted. It's easy to eat poorly.

I thought I was going to finally have time to go to the gym again. When I was working full time and also building this business, I was working every evening until bedtime and all weekend long. It was a constant grind, and I loved it, but I was busy every waking moment. Previously, I'd gone to the gym 3-4 days per week!

Now, I am finding it all too easy to snack all day, much more than ever before, and then get caught up and busy and suddenly, Husband is home from work, I wrap up my day, and then I want to hang out with him, not leave and go to the gym. When I have time between calls during the day, I'm not going to the gym, I'm writing, organizing, working, marketing, etc.

So, I've gained about 10 pounds, which I'm feeling bad and insecure about. But again, I love what I'm doing and that is my own fault.

I do spend more time with my cat, less time with people, and have found it all too easy to stay home for several days at a time. It's actually an issue, because I don't have a ton of friends in NY, and I am getting isolated.

To address this, my plan is to try to get out of the house and:

• Take walks
• Go with my neighbor and her kids to the park once a week
• Find somewhere to volunteer
• Try to get back to the gym
• Pop into the city now and then. 

Last Friday, I took the afternoon off and went into the city to meet up with my old boss and some friends for lunch and then drinks, and it was great! I felt like my old self, but better.

Being an entrepreneur is great. I am truly happier than ever, but it can be stressful, isolating, and lonely, and I need to make sure my physical and mental health are properly addressed, not just my business. I used to love going to the gym, because it was my "me time," and now I am having "me time" all the time! Maybe that has been a stumbling block as well.

I am constantly trying to improve. I want to learn, grow, build, make money, write more, and do better every day. So when I am able to identify what I'm doing wrong, I can work on myself and do better!

I guess the advice I am trying to give myself is this: it's a lot of change, you're still figuring it out, 10 pounds isn't that big of a deal, you're working on it. Relax! You're doing great!

Poem about Working From Home

I could dye my hair teal

I could take a week off

I could go somewhere new

I could sleep until noon. 

I feel so different

Though I look just the same.

There's no outward symbol

of this liberation, this gorgeous transformation. 

Working for myself,

Somehow staying sane,

Isolated but fulfilled.

Supported and happy. 

My husband says to leave the hair alone. 

He told me to try

Dancing

Wearing hats

Wearing a skirt

Leaving the house, and also

Working at Starbucks and feeling quietly superior to everyone there.

To be fair, that

Last one sounds fun. 

I want to put it out there

That I am not much of a hat person. 

Entrepreneurship is 

Not worn on your sleeve. 

And when people ask, and 

I say "I'm a writer,"

I am nervous that they think

I'm an "aspiring" writer, or

Lying, or 

An unpaid blogger, or

Somehow completely ruining 

What I do. 

I don't usually care

What people think of me. 

I am confident in myself.

Except I've worked

Worked so hard

To build my career, and

Move up and make

Decent money.

The last thing I want

Is for people to now

Assume I am sitting at

Home eating bonbons

While my husband 

Brings home the bacon. 

I do the grocery shopping

In this house, and I too

Bring home bacon. 

Though maybe a little less than him. 

I am now confronted

With my misconceptions

Of how others view me

And any preconceived notions

They have of those who

Work From Home.

End of an Era & New Beginnings

I have been working 2 jobs for the last few months. I've been working in my corporate sales job in the staffing industry during the workday, and then building and running a writing business in the evenings and weekends.

My husband has been having an unlimited amount of nag-free video game time, and I have been so busy I could barely catch my breath. We were both loving every minute.

When I decided to really try to be a writer, I told Husband that I was going to be cautiously optimistic and say that I could quit my job in 12 months.

I started on 11/1/2016, and met my arbitrary number that we agreed to in January 2017, where I could have quit altogether. Instead, I went down to part time and figured that would help me with the transition to working from home. I was wrong, it actually was very difficult and a strange dynamic to be working part time in an office and part time at home, and still having to work nights and weekends to get everything done.

So now, this week, 3/8 is my last corporate work day. My team and I will have lunch and it will be bittersweet for me. In the end, the team will move forward and succeed wildly without my help, and I will fade from their minds, to be thought of when one of my clients pop up or my name shows up in the database. I'll become "oh, she used to work here."

But instead, I'll be living my dream.

It's still bittersweet to leave. Corporate sales has been my home for about 10 years, and I have the most amazing boss, a guy who has become a close and trusted friend.

I've also recently discovered that I go stir-crazy when at home alone for too long. Time to start making work from home and neighborhood friends! I do have a friend in the neighborhood to talk to, and hang out with when she takes her adorable kids to the park, so I have a good start!

I also plan to find somewhere to volunteer for a couple hours per week. I need to find something local, and then I'll have somewhere to direct some passion and give back to my community.

I have a TON going on with my writing, including 3 new clients and tons of work. I am loving it, and I am so excited that it took me only 4 months to get to this point.

I am proud, I am scared, and I am excited.
I'm exci-terrified.