I’m a self-employed contractor - been at it for almost 2 years now. Yesterday, a customer told me today was a national holiday, so I said, guess I’m taking the day off then.

Now I’m at home under a heated blanket, sipping coffee and watching YouTube videos. I still get this nagging feeling like I should call someone to say I’m not coming to work or something. It hasn’t quite sunk in that I’m my own boss.

It just feels like I got laid off 2 years ago and never went back to work. Sure, I’ve been working the whole time, but it doesn’t feel like it.

  • UncleArthur@lemmy.world
    201·
    26 days ago

    I went self-employed in 2008 after being made redundant. I never took holidays in the year as the lost income made the cost too high, but my industry basically shut down mid-December to mid-January, so that’s when I had time off.

    I’m retired now and it still feels weird not setting an alarm clock.

  • null@piefed.nullspace.lolEnglish
    16·
    26 days ago

    Reflecting on that feeling, acknowledging it without judgement, but not letting it make the decisions for you is extremely healthy. Good job and enjoy your day off!

  • The_v@lemmy.world
    111·
    26 days ago

    Been self-employed for a bit more than a year now as well. Strangely enough, I really didn’t notice much of a difference at first other than the bookkeeping.

    I have been in independent advisory roles for a while now. I haven’t had a boss know what I was doing on a daily basis since 2010. I had a job to do, but it’s was up to me to figure it out and get it done.

    I stopped informing anyone when I was taking time off 10 years ago. I have been taking 3-4 weeks in July and 4-5 weeks in Jan-February off for most of a decade now. Officially I only had 2-4 weeks of vacation but, but there was nothing to do during those periods and my old employers paid for my expertise, not time.

    • Perspectivist@feddit.ukOP
      3·
      26 days ago

      Tends to me mostly making-related stuff. Woodworking, house repairs, engine fixing and working with machinery, log cabins and homesteading, alternative living, EDC and gadgets, guns, offroading, dash- and bodycam videos, informational vids on random topics, movie analyses, geopolitics, prepping…

      The algorithm gets a ton of crap, but in my narrow case, it actually does a solid job feeding me content I’m genuinely into.