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!