No Paid Leave. No Cushion. This Is the Freelancer Panic We Don’t Talk About.
I don’t have sick days. No HR. No backup. If I stop, the money stops.
Everyone says I’m “living the dream.” But some days I’m just refreshing PayPal and pretending to be okay.
There’s no paid leave. No health insurance. Just a spreadsheet and vibes.
When clients ghost me, my stomach drops. Not because of ego— because of rent.
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I can’t afford to burn out. But I already did. Twice. Still logged in the next morning.
No one sees the quiet panic behind “Sure, I’ll take that on!”
There’s no manager checking in. Just late invoices and pretending I’m fine on Zoom.
I chose freedom. But I didn’t know freedom came with isolation, feast-or-famine, and fear.
Some days, I fantasize about a desk job. Just so I can exhale without guilt.
If you feel this too— you’re not a failure. You’re a freelancer in a system that forgets people.