I recently returned to the workplace, and many people have asked me why, after being a freelancer and remote worker for eight months, I would go back to a traditional job. Am I giving up being a content creator and personal branding?
Honestly, this decision is certainly intriguing, but these questions are also paradoxical because in my world, life was never a multiple-choice question.
Because whatever I do is part of my life and has never been in conflict with each other. "Writing, interviewing, and speaking are my life—they just happen to make money," is how I describe what I love, even though everyone else defines these things as work.
Being a freelancer has its benefits, but entrepreneurship was never my calling—at least not now. Returning to the workplace, I've compared myself to who I was over the past few years, and I've discovered that I no longer care about many trivial details. I focus more on my goals rather than unspoken, predetermined rules.
Over these years, I've also developed a very different understanding of what others call being "targeted." When I first entered the workforce, I attributed all my pickiness to being disliked. But after putting myself in others' shoes, I realized much of it simply comes down to people wanting to avoid risk, someone not wanting to take responsibility, or various other reasons—or simply not wanting to see you succeed.
This isn't confidence; it's because I learned something crucial: "discernment." Discerning whether the situation you're facing stems from someone else's problem, understanding what others are worried or angry about and why. If none of it has anything to do with you or your goals, I'm telling you—you don't need to shoulder that responsibility.
This world only cares about results. People see your effort, but they only pay for good outcomes. If achieving good results means affecting other things, I'm willing to bear that cost.
This mindset doesn't distinguish between work and life. Once you're passionate about something, you fundamentally won't see it as work. So going back to basics: have you found what you truly love?
What I really want to say is that as time goes on, many things require compromise, but compromising isn't admitting defeat—it's giving you leverage to move into different areas. After multiple compromises, what you gain is the ability to empathize and the skill to allocate resources. Don't think that using the same approach will change things. Only when you're willing to change will the world change with you. Otherwise, constantly feeling like the whole world owes you an apology will only bring pain.
Having the freedom to choose is how you gain true freedom.
Since I was able to work freely once, it also means I can choose to do it again in the future, doesn't it?
