As business majors in college, a friend and I used to joke about how we would conquer the business world, jet around the country to business meetings and employ nannies to help with the children. I think even then we knew neither one of us really had the aspiration or stamina for that kind of life. But when you're in college, you can dream those kind of crazy dreams.
After college, I went to work for a non-profit (great start to conquering the business world, right?) I worked my way up the short ladder, was running the marketing and development departments and then one day my job was yanked out from under me. I'd been unhappy there for some time so while the method of terminating my time there was unexpected, I instinctively knew right away that it was a blessing.
After gathering myself together, I started freelancing while periodically submitting job applications if anything interesting crossed my path. My attempts at applications were halfhearted; I was afraid to return to a workplace as unhealthy as the one I'd left. And so I kept freelancing and here I am, 17 years later, still working for myself, generally by myself, from home.
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Some people can't imagine working from home, saying they'd miss the social stimulation of the workplace. It's a similar argument to the one that purports home-schooled children aren't socialized enough. (I have no skin in that game, so no commentary on homeschooling. And as an aside, why is "home-schooled" hyphenated and "homeschooling" is not, Mr. SpellCheck?) In the early days, I missed the camaraderie of the office setting, but then I got married and the house was humming with three children before and after school, and while parenting is not the same thing as workplace interaction (although there certainly ARE similarities ... supervision responsibilities and challenging attitudes, anyone?), combined with lunches out, volunteer work and conversations with clients, I achieved plenty of social stimulation. As time and technology moved forward and birdies flew the nest, I had less and less face-to-face interaction during the day. And to be honest, I don't mind being by myself all.day.long. I'm a homebody and it's easy for me to stay home with my pups most days and not seek a lot of social activity.
But semi-solitude isn't the only reason I'm thankful to work from home. I love the flexible schedule that allows me time to volunteer and keep our household running. I have appreciated being able to help with occasional childcare (have computer, will travel) for others, Taking a friend to doctors' appointments or sitting by their bedside or helping to clean a house. All of this would be so much more challenging if I didn't work from home or really, to be more specific, if I wasn't self-employed. (Perhaps I should amend the title of this post.) I'm glad I have the work environment that I do. No supervising employees, no endless meetings (I can pick and choose and most of my "meetings" happen via email these days), no hassles from management, no exhaustion from inefficiencies or crises, and you can't beat my commute.
Long gone is the girl dreaming of a company jet, corner office and nanny. I'm glad there are those girls. I'm also glad I'm not one of them.
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