(CC BY 3.0)
Employment is a strange thing. Working at home, in an office, in a business, wherever, means that you report to someone else, and that you aren’t ever going to be 100% in charge of how you spend your time. For a while now, I’ve been working outside the house as well as at home. Lately, I’ve been doing some new work. It’s exciting, but terrifying. I’m working in transcription now, and it’s pretty dang cool.
I’m working more at home, which is great, because my work outside of the home has slowed down. This means the way I spend my energy every day, hell, every week, is going to change. I’ll get to be more flexible when the kids are home. I’ll have to be less flexible when they aren’t. More self-discipline, and no co-workers ordering too much lunch and an extra soda just to screw with my diet.
But the best part? No schedule written by someone else. No inflexible co-workers, no filling in for someone else’s vacation. I get to focus on my family when it works for them, and I won’t miss out just because our schedules conflict during the school year.
In short, I get more family. I get more friends. I get to have more of a life, because I will be in control of my schedule, at least most days. There will still be days when I’m at the sole direction of my out-of-home employers, and I’ll never stop being on call for my clients. But I can work with it better now.
It’ll be interesting to see how I adjust. Anxiety, stress, expedited assignments, it’s a changing world in my life. I’m sure it will be for the better.