Comments on: Best Friends and Working From Home

By: hain3s

hain3s — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 02:28:58 +0000

who do you write for, because it sounds like you need to be at a local news paper or magazine company…you had me hooked…but I feel your pain, it feels like everyone else as there 9-5 and in there own little worlds, when we are stuck in front of a stupid screen,

By: Erin

Erin — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:41:15 +0000

I totally understand, Mary Beth. I’ve worked from home for a company for 7 years — right after my first child was born. A second child later, I’m trying to make that transition from corporate to freelance, still from home. Even when the kids were babies, it could be lonely. Now they’re both in school. Sometimes the best part of my day is when I slip into chapel to do the rosary before I pick them up. It brings a measure of peace and grounding.

Connecting online, be it through forums, blogs, Twitter, whatever, is a great way to keep yourself company during the day. Finding an outside activity for evenings or weekends is even better. Maybe your parish has a group you could join? Or you could start one, a bible study perhaps. A writer’s group is a good idea, too. Or indulge in some other interest you have. You’ll be able to meet “flesh and blood” people, maybe even someone to go (window) shopping with!

Hang in there, sister.

By: Anna

Anna — Fri, 23 May 2008 21:52:19 +0000

I can 100% relate to this, your comment about personal space at church had me laughing. It’s not too bad for me as my husband also works as a freelancer and is at home…still more female company would be nice.

You could not pay me any amount to go back to an office though, it’s so regimented it drove me nuts! I’m sitting at my desk in LA, slippers on with the first season of Brothers & Sisters on the TV creating an email campaign…I go out to grab a coffee or ice creme most days just for a stroll in the sun, or take a break with a book on the balcony…you can’t put a price on the personal freedom being a freelancer gives you.

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Thu, 22 May 2008 19:48:59 +0000

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The lonely freelancer at Tobias Buckell Online — Thu, 22 May 2008 11:34:50 +0000

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By: Rachelle Matherne

Rachelle Matherne — Tue, 20 May 2008 23:07:59 +0000

I, too, have realized how lonely it can get working from home. And I, too, am usually an introverted hermit.

I’ve decided to *force* myself to go out and work from a coffeehouse for a couple of hours for at least 2 days a week. I’m also trying to schedule lunches or coffee dates during the work day with friends who also work from home.

Good luck!

By: IA_

IA_ — Tue, 20 May 2008 18:32:37 +0000

I once heard, I can not attest to the truth of this, but a priest once mentioned that one of the greatest evils of disease is that it cuts a person off from the community. The isolation of being at home so much was, according to one account I’ve read, one of the factors in universal suffrage and the “women in the workplace” movement. Since that time people living and working at home has become even more pronounced. Doing a little freelance work here and there, confined to my home the past several weeks, has gotten me pretty down.

As for the sign of peace, it doesn’t bug me nearly as much as hand holding during “Our Father.” That hand holding is nowhere in the rubrics! When I don’t want to shake hands in the sign of peace I often wave my hand and bow my head. During Our Father I’ll often bow my head and clasp my hands, that works even against the most hand-grabby person.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Tue, 20 May 2008 05:43:37 +0000

I’ve definitely experienced this as well. I went from working at a big studio with a team that would visit each others offices several times a day. Now my work break interactions are the internet and the cat.

By: elperroverde

elperroverde — Mon, 19 May 2008 21:41:15 +0000

I guess this is group therapy, isn’t? ;-))

Well, I’ve been freelancing for about 4 years now, and although I certainly miss that good moments at the office I think having the opportunity to work on your own, doing what you love, is far more important than sharing some chat at the coffee machine. Of course that would be different if I didn’t know anybody here where I live, wich is not the case right now… but, unless you live in the middle of nowhere, there always are quite a few ways to know people, right? I mean, to know people in the “Real World” - yeah, forums & blogs & email & msn are cool but nothing compares to the real thing!

So, if I may put my two cents in, one thing that works real miracles is doing exercise, specially if it’s outside - i.e. running. I may have one of those days where you’ve been working at home, not talking to anybody, starting to feel the freelance blues, then I put on my running shoes on go for a 45 min run on the beach… magic, you feel awesome again!!