Day of the Freelancer

The day stretched out in front of me--a full day--minus a nap to prepare for my overnight shift--to catch up, clean up, and generally recover from a hasty exit from town and a hasty return to town.
 
But what the freelance life giveth, the freelance life taketh away. Before I knew it, my overnight shift starting many hours from now had become a double shift starting much sooner. What was to be catch up time became pack up time. What was to be a vast stretch of time became just a snippet.
 
And that is basically what freelancing is. For all of the times when freelancing means that your schedule can be your own, there are other times when you realize that no schedule is ever really your own. For all of the feeling that you can say "no," there is the added feeling that "no" might mean "nice knowing you."
 
So, as a freelancer, I say "yes," not always, but often. As a freelancer, I understand that things can change at a moment's notice. As a freelancer, I realize that one of my greatest assets is being able to roll with the punches, whether the punches are lack of sleep, upended schedules, or mastering tasks I've never done before.
 
The day that stretched out in front of me slipped away. Or maybe it didn't. Maybe it simply slipped into something just a little different...because often, that's how it goes when you're a freelancer...