Raise your hand if you can’t picture yourself going back into an office ever again
To be fair, even before the pandemic, I wanted to try out this lifestyle of working from a laptop, anywhere in the world.
In early March 2020, my Bolivian visa was expiring, so I thought I’d try it out in Argentina, for a month or so before heading back to my apartment in La Paz. The pandemic had started, but it was still at this point where it felt so far away, that changing my plans was totally unnecessary.
I was making my way down south, in El Bolson, when it became more serious by the day. Within 48 hours it went from “let’s just gradually move back closer to an airport” to “buy the last ticket available before the country where all my stuff is closes its border.
Already having some contracts and my profile set onto a few platforms made the harsh Bolivian quarantine way easier. I had some money coming in, and something to put my mind on.
So, ironically, for the year I’d thought I’d be the most nomadic I had ever been, I barely set foot outside my place.
However, it gave me tons of time to settle my business. To play around different platforms. To grow my client base. To find great contracts that could bring in real money.
I wrote my second novel manuscript in a tiny fraction of what it took me for the first one.
Then, I started working from home for an NGO. It wasn’t what I wanted. Been there, done that. Security-wise, it was better for me to have a stable thing, with health insurance, for the time being. So I did it, but we were working from home, which has always been a struggle in the sector, at least in my experience.
I remember thinking that I would probably quit the moment we’d have to go work from the office. It was at the other side of the city and I had started to truly love waking up later if I wanted to. Taking yoga break every time my neck would get sore. Making myself a smoothie . . . or finishing an episode of Grey’s Anatomy while waiting for some document to edit.
That time never came and I finished my contract before going back to the office became mandatory.
Am I the only one?
I’d see people around saying how they grew tired of being home and how they missed being in the office.
I was expecting it to happen at some point, but it never did. Even if I’m not living the dream, even if I’m working from my same home office every day in sweatpants, I still don’t miss an actual office.
Am I really antisocial to this point?
Truth be told, I also don’t miss having a boss and coworkers. I prefer ten thousand times the relationship I have with my clients. Even when they’re not my cup of tea.
Does it get lonely sometimes? Kinda, but that way I also have more time and flexibility to meet up with friends or video chat my family.
This big switch of going freelance right when a pandemic hit just made it clear. Even if I’m not actively travelling, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to go back to an office, at least not full time. For me, there’s no coming back from that sweatpants and smoothie combo.
