Happiness Habits for Freelancers

With large areas of the UK about to go into local lockdowns (potentially including my hometown!) now seems like a good time to write about developing healthy habits and routines as a freelancer. During the national lockdown that began back in March, I found it really helpful to focus on the little things I could do to improve my mental and physical well-being. It gave me a sense of purpose amidst all the uncertainty.

Saturday was World Mental Health Day and it’s got me thinking about the ways that freelancing can sometimes be psychologically taxing. Ultimately, when you’re working alone, it’s easy to deprioritize self-care and become quite isolated. I’ve definitely had my ups and downs throughout my freelancing career and, each time I go through a rough patch, I try to think about what I can do differently to avoid a similar situation arising in the future.

I’m of the belief that you should approach mental health the way you’d approach dental health. As well as seeking assistance when you need it (just as you’d go to the dentist if you had a bad toothache) you need to think about the small preventative measures you can take on a daily basis that make a crisis less likely to occur. Just as you brush your teeth twice a day (hopefully!) it’s worth incorporating habits into your daily routine that are good for your mental health. For the reasons I’ve mentioned, it’s particularly important if you’re self-employed or work from home.

Move Every Day

On some level we all know that as humans we’re not really designed to spend most of our time sat behind a desk, but it’s pretty difficult to avoid this if you’re a translator. That’s why I’ve found it really helpful to incorporate some movement into my daily routine. I could now ramble on about the scientific benefits of exercise, but I’m sure you’ve heard it all before. Basically, as well as being good for your physical health, exercise releases endorphins that make you feel happy and less stressed. If I’m not able to fit some movement into my routine, I quickly notice the negative impact on my mood, so it’s always a priority for me.

I think it really helps to find a type of exercise you enjoy and for me that’s running. I go running every other day (usually somewhere between 3 and 8 miles) and I love that it gets me out of the house. On my non-running days, I’ll go for a walk and if the weather’s really bad, I’ll do a HIIT workout indoors. Whenever possible, I try to exercise outside because this has added benefits. It’s just nice to be far away from your desk and surrounded by nature.

Make Time for the Things You Love

Continuing in a similar vein, I think it’s really important to make time for the things you love even when they’re non-exercise related. In the past I’ve struggled with feelings of guilt when it comes to resting or taking time out to focus on my hobbies. When you’re a freelancer and it’s part of your job to motivate yourself, it’s easy to become so focused on your goals for the future that you neglect the life you’re living in the present. 

It’s not always possible for me to take weekends off or have a strict cut-off time in the evenings, so I’ve learnt to just enjoy my downtime whenever I have it. If things are quiet, I’ll take the afternoon off to go and bake some cookies or have a coffee with a friend. Even if there are other things I could be doing, I think it’s important to take breaks and do things that make me happy. I always want to be able to approach my work with joy and I can’t do that if I’m overworked and miserable.

Celebrate Your Small Wins

I think this one is especially important in the current climate. With everything in the world being very uncertain at the moment, it’s easy to get caught up in all the things that aren’t going to plan. Maybe your business isn’t growing as fast as you hoped it might or you’ve had to cancel your travel plans. It’s okay to be upset about these things, but if you spend too much time focusing on all the ways that your life is failing to live up to your own expectations, you can create a false narrative that you aren’t making any progress. This is rarely ever the case.

In order to combat this kind of negative thinking, I like to celebrate my little victories and recognise that growth is growth no matter how small. There are all sorts of tools you can use to help with this, but I’m a fan of gratitude journaling. Whether it’s digital, handwritten or photographic I like to keep a record of my favourite accomplishments, big and small. If I start to doubt myself and feel like I’m not making any progress, I can look back over it and be reminded of how far I’ve come. It makes me less prone to comparison and envy because I’m focusing on the things that I do have rather than the things I don’t.

Connect with Others

This one is particularly relevant for freelance translators. At times, translation can feel like a pretty unsocial job. I even felt this way when I worked in an office environment. We tended to be pretty focused on our own projects and there wasn’t always time to interact with each other. 

Now, I’m a pretty introverted person, but I’m also a human being and humans need social interaction. As a freelancer this means that I need to make time to see friends and family, and that I also need to connect with other translators. At the moment, a lot of these interactions have to be virtual, but they’re still important. Having people to talk to makes you feel supported and less isolated. That’s really essential in terms of your mental health. 

It’s also worth bearing in mind that the people you communicate with in a business context may also be looking for some kind of human connection. It’s easy to feel that you need to be cold and detached in the name of professionalism, but at the end of the day people enjoy working with other people. Translation doesn’t have to be impersonal even if you never meet your client face to face. Taking the time to make your emails cheerful and friendly means that you’ll usually be met with a similar response. This creates a much more pleasant working environment.

Be Kind to Yourself

This is probably the most important habit you can develop as a freelancer: the act of being kind to yourself. Especially in the early days of your career, you’ll often feel like you’re navigating uncharted territory. As a result of this, you will make mistakes – it’s just inevitable – and the only way you’re going to get past this is if you’re nice to yourself. Obviously, you need to learn from your mistakes so you don’t keep repeating them, but it’s counter-productive to beat yourself up if you do something wrong. Put it behind you and move on.

I used to spend a lot of time judging myself for failing to meet some standard of what I think efficiency looks like. I’d have some concept of how much I needed to achieve in any given day and if I didn’t meet it, I’d be annoyed with myself. I’ve now learnt that this wastes a lot of time. It’s normal for your energy levels to fluctuate, so I don’t expect a consistent level of productivity from myself. If I have a bad day, I tell myself that things will be better tomorrow and they usually are. It all evens out in the long run.

So, there you go: these are the habits I currently practise to stay healthy and happy while working as a freelance translator during a global pandemic. It’s always important to think about your mental health, but it’s especially important during these strange and uncertain times. If anybody has any good tips, then I’d love to hear from you. As always, stay safe and healthy.