The Friendly Freelancer is a biweekly newsletter for creative freelancers available in English and Dutch. If you would prefer to read this newsletter in Dutch, you can subscribe to the Dutch version here. You’ll get the same letter as subscribers to the English version although some of the linked resources and articles may slightly differ.
One of my clients, the progressive culture factory Curieus, launched the hashtag #coronabelofte, or #coronapromise last week. Because this moment has turned everything upside down; because this moment has raised a lot of questions. What will we do “differently” once everything goes back to “normal”?
I’m not usually one for challenges, but I gladly accepted this one.
I don’t want to minimise the impact of the lockdown, which is costing me and many others a lot of revenue, and which has also taken a big hit on our mental health. I live in a studio apartment, and my desk and my bed are right next to each other. And yet it’s never been harder to bridge that one-metre distance. Some days, I can hardly concentrate and I read news updates from my bed until the battery of my phone dies.
On other days I feel fine, better than “normal” even. I begin my day with yoga. I cook healthy meals from scratch. I fly through my pile of unread books. When I want a new book, I happily order from a local book store instead of an Internet giant even if it means a few extra clicks. I catch up on all the administrative work that I’ve let accumulate; I fix broken chairs; I scrub the green scale from my balcony, and my sock drawer is now free of socks with holes in them. I’ve cleared out both my inbox and my hard drive. I’ve caught up with almost all my friends, including people I hadn’t heard from in months.
Is this me saying that you can only call yourself an accomplished adult if you’ve done all these things? No. Or that you have to be productive during a crisis? Of course not.
Still … it does make you think. I think people should be entitled to mental health days, paperwork days and fixer upper days. When I became a freelancer and thus my own boss, I promised myself I would allow myself to take all these types of days.
But the reality turned out differently. The things I did in the last 30 days had been on my mental to-do list for years, under the column “when I find the time”. Apparently, it took a month-long, forced confinement for me to get all these things done, some of which are really important to me.
I still worry about all the impacts of this crisis – on me, on us, on the world. But I’m no longer carrying with me years’ worth of loose ends, stacks of old paper and guilt feelings. And what a relief that’s been – I wish I would have made time for this earlier and out of my own volition.
There are a lot of things no-one – including freelancers – can control at the moment. But as freelancers we do have a little bit more control over how we spend our days. It’s why my first #coronapromise is to no longer structure my days according to conventional office hours, but to instead plan my days around the hours my balcony is bathed in sunlight this summer.
I’m curious to hear what #coronapromise you’ve made. Let us know via freelancerthefriendly@gmail.com.
Speak soon,
Selma
What I’m reading, watching, listening to this week:
Friend of The Friendly Freelancer Elisabeth Timmermans is part of a research team trying to find out how Covid-19 impacts people’s relationships or dating life. Everyone +18 is eligible to participate: https://tinyurl.com/coronalove
This long read by Rebecca Solnit, one of my favourite authors. 'The impossible has already happened': what coronavirus can teach us about hope.
When I get tired of sitting inside, I sometimes watch webcams of bird nests and bird rocks (don’t judge me). It’s reassuring to see that it’s business as usual in the world of birds. I can warmly recommend the livestreams of the ospreys in San Francisco and the seabirds on the Shetland islands 🐦
This newsletter was written by Selma Franssen. Selma is a Dutch freelance journalist living in Brussels. She is the author of Vriendschap in tijden van eenzaamheid and has written for Charlie Magazine, OneWorld, De Morgen, De Standaard, The New Statesman, Bustle, Knack, VPRO and Newsweek.
You’ll hear from Linda A. Thompson in two weeks, a Belgian freelance journalist specialised in covering corporate tax and social injustice. She’s written for Bloomberg Law, Deutsche Welle, OZY, International Politics & Society, USA Today, IJNet and Equal Times.