Today, I’ve been thinking a lot about the reasons I’m thankful for my career—mentally listing off things I love about being self-employed.

This morning, for instance, I went for a run, showered, made a smoothie, and got to work.

I didn’t have to spend an hour making myself beautiful and thirty minutes driving to work.

And there are so many more reasons to love freelance life:

I see my daughter in little increments throughout the day. As a working mom, that is such a gift. Instead of standing at the water cooler and making mindless chitchat during breaks, I escape into the world of Seuss and Carle and get showered with hugs and kisses.

During the day, I don’t waste time sitting in useless meetings or trying to appease a boss. When I do attend meetings, they’re usually relatively quick and to the point—after all, I charge by the hour. As an added bonus, I don’t have to deal with incompetent coworkers or work on passionless projects handed down by upper management.

If I’m having a difficult day focusing, I can get off early and head out for a run or take my daughter to the park. The next day, I’m able to come back to my work refreshed and alert, instead of feeling like work is pure drudgery.

In the afternoon, when I’m done working, I walk out of my office and close the door. I get to start my personal life right away, instead of battling traffic and arriving home frustrated.

A friend’s in town and wants to meet for a long lunch? I can make it work. Rough night of sleep? I can sleep in (unless my toddler wakes me up…which is actually what normally happens).

If I want to pack up and move to Europe for a couple of years, I can—and I hope to someday.

When life requires more of my attention, I can tailor my schedule to work less. When emergencies happen, I can be there.

I get to attend all of my daughter’s doctor visits. Just the other day, we got some good news at the cardiologist and decided to go to lunch to celebrate. At a traditional job, I would’ve had to rush back to work immediately and might have even felt guilty taking the time off.

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Living the freelance life is far from perfect. I deal with a lot of obstacles on the road to success. But, in my opinion, every challenge is so worth it.

Today is Independence Day, but I’m living it all year long. Happy 4^th!

What is your favorite thing about being a freelancer? If you’re currently employed, what appeals to you about the freelance life?

(Image courtesy waferboard | flikr)