How Freelancing Changed My Health Habits — and Helped Me Work Better
🧘♀️From Exhaustion to Awareness: How Freelancing Taught Me to Work With My Body, Not Against It.
By Reshmi | Balancing life and Writing
✍️ Reshmi | Writer, Wellness Explorer, Remote Worker
Before I started freelancing, I didn’t think much about my energy. I just pushed through.
If I was tired, I had tea.
If I had a headache, I blamed the fan or skipped lunch.
If I felt off, I told myself I was just being lazy — and I kept working.
But when I left the 9-to-5 routine, everything shifted.
No commute, no fluorescent lights, no structured break times.
Just me, my laptop, and the strange, quiet rhythm of my own body — one I’d been ignoring for years.
🧩 Freelancing Gave Me Space
Not just physical space, but mental and emotional room to notice how I actually felt.
I began to recognize patterns:
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I worked better when I didn’t rush breakfast.
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I lost focus if I skipped water.
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Heavy meals made me sluggish; lighter ones helped me stay sharp.
It wasn’t a new diet. It was a new kind of awareness.
At first, I felt strange building a workday around what my body needed. It almost felt... indulgent. But I slowly realized: tuning in wasn’t self-indulgence — it was self-preservation.
💡 The First Time I Truly Paused
I still remember the first time I noticed the connection.
I was writing a product description for a Clickworker task. My head was pounding, and every sentence felt wrong. I kept rewriting the same line.
Normally, I would’ve forced myself to finish.
But that day, I didn’t.
Instead, I stood up, stretched, made a cup of ginger tea, and ate half a banana.
Nothing fancy. Just a small reset.
When I came back, the fog had lifted.
The words flowed.
It wasn’t just the snack — it was the permission to pause.
To listen.
That moment stayed with me.
🧠 Patterns That Improved My Freelancing Productivity
As days turned into months, I started paying closer attention to the relationship between health and freelancing performance:
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When my eyes blurred, I stopped squinting and stepped out onto the balcony.
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When I felt like everything I wrote was wrong, I checked when I last ate or drank water — it was usually hours ago.
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When my focus dropped, I didn’t reach for caffeine. I tried stretching, walking, or ten minutes of silence.
These weren’t part of a wellness routine.
There was no app or journal.
Just quiet, daily check-ins with my body.
One of the most surprising things? The fixes were usually simple:
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A glass of water.
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A five-minute walk.
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A short nap.
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Changing the chair cushion.
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Eating before the hunger turned into a headache.
Over time, these small acts created a kind of internal GPS.
I could feel myself veering off course — and gently steer back.
⏰ A Day in My Freelance Life (Then vs. Now)
Then:
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Wake up, scroll phone, skip breakfast.
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Sit for 5 hours straight.
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Crash by 3 p.m., powered by tea and leftover guilt.
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Panic-finish client work.
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Feel like I failed at both rest and work.
Now (most days):
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Wake up, stretch, drink warm water.
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Sit for 90 minutes, then break.
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Eat lunch on time.
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Listen to music while proofreading.
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Stop work by 7 — guilt-free.
I still mess it up sometimes. But now, I notice.
And that noticing helps me reset instead of spiral.
🛑 Rest Isn’t a Reward — It’s a Resource
One of the biggest mindset shifts freelancing taught me is this:
You don’t have to earn rest.
I stopped calling myself lazy when I felt tired.
I stopped treating exhaustion like a badge of honour.
Some days, I’m simply drained — and that’s not weakness.
That’s being human.
Ironically, the more I let myself rest when I needed to, the better my work became.
My writing got clearer.
My thinking got sharper.
Deadlines stopped feeling like cliffs.
I also became less snappy in emails.
Less anxious before submitting drafts.
More proud of my work — not just for what it said, but how it was made.
🍃 A Quiet Kind of Health
Sometimes, I see wellness blogs with sunrise routines, fancy smoothies, or color-coded journals. That’s great if it helps. But for me, health isn’t about perfection.
It’s about small, gentle recalibrations — recognizing when something’s off, and responding with kindness instead of pressure.
A few recalibrations that helped me:
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I started using a timer — not to be productive, but to remind me to blink, stretch, breathe.
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I added a water tracker, but forgave myself when I forgot.
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I learned to eat lunch before I got irritable. Not after.
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I gave up productivity hacks that left me more wired than well.
🗣 You’re Allowed to Tune In
If you’ve been pushing through without listening to your body, I get it.
I still fall into that habit — especially during deadlines or slow income months.
But here’s what I’ve learned:
Tuning in is part of showing up.
It’s not separate from work. It is the work.
If you’ve ever found yourself rereading the same email five times, snapping at a loved one mid-project, or feeling hollow after hitting “Send” — try this:
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Step away.
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Sip something warm.
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Let yourself breathe before you blame yourself.
It doesn’t make the stress disappear. But it reminds your body: you’re safe, you’re trying, and you’re allowed to pause.
🌱 Still Learning
I still forget water until 3 p.m. some days.
I still eat cake for lunch when I’m stressed.
I still say yes to too many things.
But I notice now.
And that noticing? That’s everything.
Because every time I notice, I have a chance to choose differently.
Maybe that’s not what most people mean by productivity tips.
But for me, it’s the most sustainable one I’ve found.
🖋 Written by Reshmi — a freelance writer learning that tuning in isn’t slowing down, it’s learning how to truly show up.
This article is the intellectual property of the author. No part of this work may be copied, reproduced, distributed, or used commercially without written permission.
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