Freelance Job as Time Machine
Jan 3rd, 2008 by Nut
M and I get to spend a lot of time together right now. Not sure if it’s because our job hours aren’t that significant or if it’s where we are in life (no kids? I don’t know). But we both feel really lucky that we get to see each other every day and spend a significant amount of time with each other.
We also know it won’t last forever. I know I’ll eventually work somewhere that will require more of my time, maybe even travel. We’ll have kids at some point, and that will take away from our “alone time.”
We know this but it’s one of those things you can’t really prepare for or know in advance how you’re going to deal with it. All we can do is enjoy the time we have now and hope we adjust well enough when change comes our way.
But recently we had the chance to kind of get a preview of what it will be like. The recent freelance job I got meant I would get home, have dinner with M, and then reach for my laptop and work away. Not only that, it was around the time I started this blog, which meant I spent even more time on my computer than usual.
It was strange because, even though we were in the same room, I was working and we weren’t really talking or hanging out in the traditional sense. Every time I reached for my computer I felt bad, like I was mentally walking out of the room instead of spending time together.
I told myself that the freelance job was a good thing, that expanding my alternative income is “for us,” that it will help hoard cash for the eventual purchase of a home, etc. It was change and it was uncomfortable for the both of us. Luckily for us, I finished the job shortly thereafter and that was that—problem solved.
It was an interesting peek into the future though and I think it will better prepare for when the real change comes. You see this on TV and in movies all the time: change happens and then the man says “I’m doing it for us.” And then a big fight gets started. These kinds of things (the freelance job) help us better prepare for the future and will hopefully keep us out of cliché-ridden situations.
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