Being Lazy... in a Professional Kinda Way

I’m starting to realize just how good I’ve had it.

For the past little while I’ve been making a pretty comfortable living as a freelance writer. And now I’m facing something I had, without much faith, kinda hoped I could continue to avoid forever.

Tomorrow I am interviewing for a 9 to 5 job.

Don’t get the wrong idea. This isn’t a ‘real job.’ It’s not like I’m some struggling artist whose family has convinced to put his dreams on hold to pay the rent. In fact, it is probably a step forward in my writing career. Long term, it will open a lot of doors in the direction of my wildest dreams.

In the short term, it will mean getting up in the morning with everyone else. I’ve become so used to what I call ‘the freelance lifestyle’ that the idea of being on someone else’s schedule gives me chills. It has made me realize just how ridiculously easy my life has become. I get up when I want, I work when I want, I go for walks or lunches or meetings or shopping trips when I want. I do laundry at off-peek hours. As long as I meet my deadlines, if I want to take a day off and play video games, no one even knows.

All that and my fiancée works at home, too. It’s like working with your best friend for an absentee boss.

Sure, there are downsides to working freelance. You have to always be on the hunt for your next paycheque. No benefits. No paid sick days or vacation. It took a long, chronically broke period of my life to even get my foot in the door. But the lifestyle... the lifestyle is ideal for me.

So why leave all that behind? Because everything I hope to accomplish above and beyond what I already have involves working in some office somewhere from early until late. And here’s the thing - this may be the only story you will ever hear about an artist who will give up on his dream by not taking a 9 to 5 office job.