Take Care of Yourself: Freelancers Need to Rest & Relax

Life as a freelancer can be stressful. You’ve got the freedom to do what you want, but that comes with responsibility. It’s all on you. Things can get pretty tense, and it’s vital for freelancers to find ways to rest and relax. Not only will you breathe easier when you find time to rest and relax, but your work will improve.

Too Busy to Rest?

It’s tempting to ignore this advice. Don’t. Yes, you’re busy and swamped with a project right now. You don’t have time to think about taking a break. But the next project will come quickly, and if you don’t plan for it you’ll never get a break. You have to schedule your rest and relaxation to make sure it happens. Plan it, put it on the calendar and then get back to work. Then it’s there when you need it.

Know Yourself

So how do you rest and relax? The first step is to know yourself. Some of us are introverts and need to hole up by ourselves to relax. But the extroverts need to go hang out with other people. You need to know yourself so you can do what best helps you relax. It’s not going to be the same for everybody. Some people think jumping out of an airplane makes for a good vacation. Others just want to curl up with a book. Figure out what works for you.

Long-Term & Short-Term Rest

You also need to recognize that there are short breaks and there are long breaks. There are days when you just need a short pick-me-up. Then there are times when you need a vacation. You need a serious break.

Short-Term Relaxation

Those short-term breaks are easier to handle. If you’ve had a long day, take a quick break. Have an afternoon reading break, or take a walk around the block. Recognize when the immediate challenges are wearing you down and you need a quick rest. You’ll come back refreshed and able to do better work.

Long-Term Relaxation

But you also need to recognize when a 20-minute reading break isn’t going to fix the insane levels of stress keeping you up at night. While short breaks are good, sometimes you need a longer break to truly relax. Know when your body and mind need a vacation. It’s harder to plan and fit into your schedule, so you have to anticipate your needs. My kids are home during the summer, and as much as I love my kids, that means I don’t get as much work done. So at the end of the summer, when my wife is back at school, I planned a vacation to go see the grandparents. It gives the kids something to do, gives me a break to get work done and everybody’s happy. If taking a full-on vacation seems like too much, try planning a smaller, shorter vacation. Pack your laptop, and plan to do an hour or two of work every morning. Then take the rest of the day off. It might be enough to maintain the projects you have and not fall too far behind, but you also get some much needed rest and relaxation. The danger, of course, is that your hour or two of work can start to turn into four or more hours, and suddenly your mini-vacation is now a really expensive mobile office.

Take Your Break

So whatever kind of a break you need, whether it’s long-term or short-term, work it into your schedule.

• Consider healthy habits and the impact good health can have on your outlook. Are you getting good exercise? Are you eating well? Sometimes a quick run or some brain food can really get you back in the game. Our list of 99 productivity tips for working at home includes a lot of advice on healthy breaks.
• Grab yourself a good book. Maybe it’s work related, or maybe it’s just a good novel. Whatever lets your brain rest.
• Get out and go to an event. Find a WordPress meetup or a techie event where you can swap some stories with fellow web warriors.
• Go all out and take a vacation. Book a night at a cabin for a quick retreat.
• Queue up some TED talks, and make your own conference.
• Fire up your favorite game system, and put in some video game hours.

Rest & Relax

Whatever gives you a rest as a freelancer, whatever helps you relax, make sure you’re finding time for it. Put it on your calendar if you need to, but make sure it’s happening. Your work will improve. Your clients will thank you, your family and friends will thank you, and most of all, you’ll thank yourself.

I've been living as if self care is what I must do because of the work. But slow dawning that self care is what I must do to live.

— Austin Channing Brown (@austinchanning) July 23, 2015

More:

In our book The Ultimate Guide to Starting a Freelance Web Design Business there’s an entire chapter dedicated to Taking Care of Yourself. Check it out for even more insights.