Day Off Diamond Girl

I am a freelance designer. Many people think that this means I’m not very busy, or I can’t seem to find an actual design job, or that I just do little things here or there under the table or for free. None of that is true. Being self-employed really only means that I work all the time. Nights, weekends, during any resemblance of a lunch hour…all the time. It really is like owning a small business. If YOU don’t work, nothing gets done. And when you have a lot of projects going, it’s very difficult to not think about it at every waking hour. Especially this summer. My current busyness is the most unexpected/amazing thing. I’m so grateful for all of my clients. I am in constant awe of my situation right now. This is my graphic design dream come true.
Things have kind of started to slow down for me this month…and when I say slow down, I mean no more working after like 7pm. So, I did something yesterday that I haven’t had the courage to do in a while. I gave myself the day off. I slept in a little, got up, had some coffee, watched an episode of Bones and painted my toenails. Spent the afternoon at my grandparents house, ran some errands, did laundry and made this little painting. It ended up still being a pretty busy day, but I am thankful that my boss finally caved and let me take a break. 😉 My mom keeps telling me I need to take more short breaks during my work day. She says it will help me be more productive. It’s hard to take breaks, but I’m going to be working hard at breaking more so that the time I actually spend at my computer is more productive. If you work a sedentary job, I recommend the same for you.
Anyways, enough of the unnecessary ranting. I love my job and I love being my own boss, especially when I have the guts to set down the work and care for myself a little bit. Now…back to work!
If you are self-employed or have your own business, I would love to hear what you do to give yourself breaks!