Dealing with grief while freelancing

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The grief process happens to us all whether we are employed full-time, part-time or freelancing in my case.

I have come up with tips through my experiences as to how to deal with grief.

1. Inform current clients that you need the time off – Its OK to take time to grieve and one cannot put grieving on a set schedule.

2. Inform prospective clients – if they cannot understand or need someone to work on something right away, its OK to pass projects up. As Gram says, if it was meant for you, they will either wait or move on.

3. Outsource - If you are eager to help the prospect, but don’t have the energy, see about outsourcing the project to someone that is eager and who can work on the project on you behalf.

4. Set a voice mail message so that people will not be expecting for you to get back to them right away.

5. Journal with pen and paper – Journaling offline helped me to capture memories and good times. It also helped me to face my feelings about loss and work towards being at peace with the situation.

6. Work on work in small doses. With accomplishing small tasks, it helped me to build back my self esteem, so that I would have the courage and strength to get back to the big projects.

7. Take time to clean up your own business. I took my own advice from a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t do any coding for a week. I worked on cleaning out my inbox, prioritized my emails, sorted my filters, and cleaned out my place. Anything that would help to clear one’s head and be prepared to eventually get back to business is a positive step.