Mental wellbeing for freelancers

On #worldmentalhealthday the best thing we can do is share experiences that resonate with us, to help others. Following one of my posts a couple of weeks ago, some Association for Project Management members contacted me with their lived experiences. Here's one from Sarah Schütte :

As someone who has worked independently and solo since 2014, and as often an ‘outsider’ it can be hard to ingratiate and integrate. 

Covid has made it somewhat harder and easier. Technology, of course, means that more frequent 'mini catch ups’ and 'get to know you’ sessions are easy. But the real-life connection is missing, and the online sessions are also easy to reschedule.  

My starting point is, if you can’t do anything about it, then you have to do the best you can with what you can do ie what is under my control or influence or not. 

Freelancers are too often ‘on’ and/or ‘hard on ourselves’. It’s hard to keep piping up when a core group is in the office, and you are remote, so you have to work harder, which is exhausting. So Covid’s WFH has given many project folks the opportunity, experience, and learning about this way of working. As a result empathy and ways of keeping in touch are more appreciated, and we become more attuned to the fact that this is needed to prop everyone up and keep in tune with each other on a more sensitive level (as well as to progress from a business perspective). 

Time out is also important because, as freelancers, we have a bigger, broader book of business and contacts, and so perhaps more need to phone people and make the effort which can feel one-sided sometimes. For me it is something solo and silent (ironic really, when you can go all day head down without an interaction), and that is cycling and swimming. I like the rhythm of both, and that I am in charge of just me (unlike on projects!). 

Meditation and lying down staring at the sky can help too. I do Pilates and yoga, silence and breathing. Just a few minutes twice a day really helps to calm and reset. I can absolutely promise that to everyone.

Thanks Sarah Schütte .

If you're a project professional and you'd like some support for your mental health, or you'd like to build your knowledge around this topic, take a look at APM's mental health toolkit for project managers, which we produced with Mind : www.apm.org.uk/resources/mental-health-toolkit/

#mentalhealth #wellbeing #projectmanagement #projectprofession