Detox

I wonder how long it takes to detox from the 9-to-5....

This morning Favourite Man and I had a busy run-around day, organizing repairs to Olivia, dropping things off here, picking things up there, checking in on various works-in-progress and grabbing a few items off the grocery list.

Come lunchtime I was walking the local mall - and feeling the smallest tinge of guilt. A bit like a truant schoolchild, meant to be sitting in a classroom but bunking instead. Or like a truant adult, booked "off sick" but taking a "personal day" to shop and hoping no-one would recognize them.

There's still this ingrained feeling that I should be chained to a desk from 8 to 5. That I should be trudging the commute and knocking off with the rest of the factory workers.

Instead I'm free as a bird - free to make decisions about how to do the day, free to choose what to focus my attention on, whether e-waste processing, e-waste collection, web design work or a spot of Cape Connect stuff. Or perhaps just a few meetings with potential clients, lunch with Favourite Man, or time spent under a Land Rover doing a gearbox oil topup.

The days are free to use as I will, free to be insanely profitable or merely tick over. I now have an assistant on a casual basis who is making us cash even if I'm out and about, struggling along through the roadworks on the N2 or dealing with admin and phonecalls. I can line up my e-waste clients' collections without having to plan around an office clock-in, or have those collections eat into Favourite Man's schedule. I can spend two hours at the bank, or five hours on the road.

It's something I'm still getting used to, this immense freedom to forge my own way. It's something I'm completely and utterly loving. I'm learning a lot about me (and my innate strength that has yet to fully show itself), about the many businesses in operation around here, about the possibilities and connections that jump up and hit you in the face every day, and about what I want for the path ahead.

It's very very cool - even if it's taking a little while to detox from Employee Syndrome.