Trying to maintain a work & home life balance is much more difficult than it may initially appear.
In the last few weeks since finishing my placement year, I have been doing some work for my previous employer. I can maintain some income while in the transitional period of finishing my placement year and going back to university to complete my final year at Plymouth University.
I don’t currently have a dedicated workspace. I set up the big monitor and the laptop on a table and go. This means when it came to stopping, it was incredibly difficult! I really enjoy what I do and found myself working all day and into the night because “I didn’t see the time” or something along those lines. From this experience I learnt that you really need to take time off from your busy schedule to enjoy life, maybe any hobbies you may have, for example, I enjoy photography.
It is potentially the hardest thing about being a freelancer and working from home. I have read many articles on this sort of thing before and they all say to have a work and social life balance otherwise you start to feel a bit rubbish, who wants to work ALL of the time. I have previously done this with another project and just kept working either because I didn’t realise the time or I came across something I really wanted to solve. This proved problematic resulting in high-stress levels and illness due to the strain in working too many hours and not getting enough rest.
I highly suggest to anybody in the same situation to take this into account because we do all need some chill out time to do other things we enjoy. Here are a few articles from other sites that I have found that may also be of interest.
How To Be a Successful Freelance Programmer & Developer From Day One
The roadmap to becoming a professional freelance designer – Smashing Magazine
How to Manage Your Work-Life Balance and Reduce Stress
