January 2025
Licensed therapist reveals how to protect your mental health as a freelancer
A licensed therapist shares for her expert insights on how to protect your mental health as a freelancer.
Many of us left the 9-5 behind believing that freelancing is the key to opportunity, flexibility, and freedom.
But, like all good things, those benefits come at a (sometimes steep) price.
Freelancing is filled with unique challenges in business – managing your own income, client relationships, workload, and so on.
And freelancers rarely step out of our “business skin,” so there are also plenty of “life challenges” to face – socializing, romantic partnerships, parenting, etc.
Add all of that to the fact that self-employment is a wildly unpredictable ride, and you’ve got yourself the makings of a potentially precarious mental health situation.
Since burning yourself out through an endless cycle of feast and famine and sheer overwhelm is no way to live, I turned to my friend, licensed therapist, Carina Lundvedt.
With mental health as a cornerstone of long-term success, I asked Carina (whose experience includes working with Mayo Clinic and Hennepin County Health System), for her expert insights on how to protect your mental health as a freelancer.
Freelancing is filled with unique challenges in business – managing your own income, client relationships, workload, and so on.
Acknowledge the pressure
Feel like you’re constantly juggling flaming swords of fire?
That’s freelancing.
You’re under 24/7 pressure to be responsible for your own income, manage client expectations, and navigate fluctuating workloads.
So, according to Carina, one of the first things you can do to protect your mental health as a freelancer is to acknowledge that pressure.
Acknowledge that it’s normal to feel overwhelmed and it’s important to validate those feelings rather than push them aside.
You will experience setbacks, but instead of focusing on unwanted outcomes as failures, try to view them as learning experiences.
For example:
A project that doesn’t go as planned does not erase your progress or diminish your value.
Instead of telling yourself something like, “I’ll have to slash my prices on the next project because of this outcome,” work on reframing negative situations.
Try saying something like:
“Now that I know what doesn’t work, I can redirect my energy to new opportunities or improvements.”
And when you’re feeling overwhelmed, treat yourself with the same care you would a close friend:
- Light a candle
- Enjoy your favorite meal
- Have a mini spa day (or just a long bath)
- Treat yourself to a walk on your favorite nature trail
- And take a moment to practice saying the opposite of your automatic negative thoughts
All of this will challenge you to consider a different perspective – a practice that can help build emotional resilience over time so you develop a healthier relationship with your setbacks.
Remember that you are doing important work, and it’s okay to feel pressure.
This is just a natural part of being a freelancer.
Acknowledge that it’s normal to feel overwhelmed and it’s important to validate those feelings rather than push them aside.
Focus on foundational care
Balance? What balance?
When you’re self-employed, it can be tempting to push your own well-being to the back burner in favor of work. Gotta hustle to be successful, right?
Our licensed therapist would call you out on that thought process.
Because self-care isn’t a luxury – it’s essential to maintaining your productivity and creativity.
Focus on these foundational care basics to protect your mental health as a freelancer:
Sleep:
Prioritize sleep as an essential part of your workday routine.
Aim for 7-9 hours of quality sleep each night.
Lack of sleep impairs cognitive function, decision-making, and overall emotional resilience, so consider creating a soothing bedtime routine to make it easier to get your recommended snooze hours.
For example, my routine looks like this:
- 1. 10 minutes on the acupuncture mat
- 2. Followed by a 10 minute stretch
- 3. Make a cup of sleepy time tea to sip on
- 4. Spray my nighttime lavender spray on the sheets
- 5. Take a melatonin gummy
Physical Activity:
Regular exercise helps reduce stress, improve mood, and keeps your energy levels high. Even if it’s just a short walk or a few minutes of stretching, find ways to move your body daily.
Healthy Eating:
Fuel your body with nutritious foods to maintain steady energy levels and emotional balance.
Avoid skipping meals or relying on caffeine and sugar for energy ( I know, I know, but this can lead to crashes later on which is definitely not helpful when you’re trying to hit those deadlines!).
Socializing:
Freelancers often work alone, which can lead to isolation, so maintaining social connections is crucial for emotional well-being.
Spend time with friends and family, or join a professional network to share experiences and recharge.
Remember, your identity is not just your work, so nurture relationships that help you stay grounded.
Self-care isn’t a luxury – it’s essential to maintaining your productivity and creativity.
Embrace imperfections
We already mentioned the dreaded feast and famine cycle of freelancing – this lifestyle comes with a level of uncertainty you just can’t argue against.
So you sort of have to accept the uncertainty of freelance life.
Now acceptance does not mean you have to like it.
It means you recognize the reality of that uncertainty without judgment or resistance.
You can’t change the uncertainty inherent in freelancing, but you can learn to accept that not everything is in your control.
Rather than fighting against the unknown that you can’t control, like whether a long-term client will renew their contract 3 months from now, focus on what you can control, like your response and attitude to whatever happens.
Building tolerance for tough emotions can help you navigate all this.
You can help yourself build emotional tolerance through diaphragmatic breathing:
Breathe in deeply through your diaphragm (push your belly OUT as you breathe IN) to help reduce the stress hormone, cortisol, and efficiently oxygenate your body and brain giving space for your frontal lobe to work.
Remember that the intensity of your anxiety or frustration won’t last forever so try to give yourself grace while you work through difficult feelings.
They’re another part of the process.
You can’t change the uncertainty inherent in freelancing, but you can learn to accept that not everything is in your control.
Work with your thoughts
“That client backed out of our project, and now all of my clients will back out, and I’ll never find anyone who wants to work with me again.”
That’s catastrophizing and freelancers are famous for it.
It’s easy for us to get caught in unhelpful thinking, such as catastrophizing (expecting the worst like in the spiral above), all-or-nothing thinking (believing you either succeed completely or fail), or overgeneralizing (thinking one setback means total failure).
These automatic thought processes can lead to stress, procrastination, and burnout.
But if you can recognize when these thoughts come up, you can challenge the patterns.
For example:
When you catch yourself having an unhelpful thought, try to counter it with a more balanced perspective.
Talk to a trusted friend or colleague about your concerns to gain a fresh perspective and help shift your thinking if you’re struggling to do this on your own.
If procrastination creeps in, try behavioral activation:
Break tasks into smaller, manageable steps and take action. Because progress, no matter how small, can boost your confidence and motivation.
if you can recognize when unhelpful thoughts come up, you can challenge the patterns.
Set boundaries
Most freelancers are basically allergic to saying no.
The idea of turning down work – of turning down good income when you need it – can be truly terrifying.
So it’s tempting to say yes to everything (make hay when the sun shines and all that, right?), but overcommitting can quickly lead to resentment and burnout.
Setting healthy boundaries is essential to protecting your mental health as a freelancer.
You could start by creating a goal for this year to say no to at least one project that doesn’t align with your goals or values.
After you say that first “no,” you might find it surprisingly easy to say it more often.
You’ll come to realize that saying “no” isn’t selfish (and it rarely takes away opportunities) since it preserves your time and energy for the work that actually lights you up.
Setting healthy boundaries is essential to protecting your mental health as a freelancer.
You’re the guardian of your mental health
No one else will protect your mental health for you.
You know, as a solo team of one, you’re already responsible for wearing all the hats, so that’s one more hat you need to wear:
Guardian of your own mental health
It’s arguably the most important hat since it will hold up all the other hats.
If you’re buried under overwhelm or burned out by tough feelings, you’re not going to be any use to anyone, least of all to yourself as the CEO, CFO, CMO, and all the other c-suite executives you have to be on any given day.
Remember that your business can’t exist without you.
Prioritize your mental health and protect yourself.
If you need help creating more balance in your business, or just getting things set up to run more smoothly, book your free consultation.
Let’s take some of those projects off your plate.