Nothing Concern Freelancers With Public Holiday

And I hate it.

Freelancing and being your own boss is really not all it’s cracked up to be.

Last week (like every single week before EID) a christian friend reached out to me to confirm when Eid-il-Fitr was and I told her it was between Friday and Saturday. After answering that question, I immediately informed her that this was not the ram EID if that was why she wanted to know.

She quickly responded that it wasn’t. She was simply anticipating the public holiday.

“Oh”, I responded unenthusiastically and she was wondering why she (as a christian) was giddy with excitement at two work-free days and I wasn’t.

The answer is two simple but annoying words - I. Freelance.

While being a freelancer allows you to control your own hours, it doesn’t really leave you with as much freetime as people think. In fact, you find out that you work more on days where everybody seems to be chilling. 

For example, if you’re a content creator, you might want to post more on public holidays because you know people are free from work. This means they can check out your work without the stress or anxiety from work keeping them from properly enjoying it. They are probably gathered together at home so they can share your work more easily with family and friends. Lastly, they are probably happier on public holidays so your work is received with a little less criticism. 

So, if you follow government go dey chill because they declared public holiday, that company/brand wey you dey build small small fit crash and crumble.

In fact, a public holiday might even hamper your work progress because if you need someone else to complete a job you’ve been working on, they might not be available. Why? Because, public holiday.

As a freelancer, you can’t even relate to the joy everyone has at the mention of a public holiday. You’re indifferent to it. And it sucks because public holidays are one of the few things that make living in Nigeria a flex. But because you’re an oversabi and you want to be your own boss, you can’t even relate again.

It’s even worse for people that work from their family home. 

Now, everybody has gathered to disturb your work flow. Or worse, you get influenced by the fact that everyone is sitting around and being lazy that you also decide to sit around and be lazy. Now, you have nothing to show for the public holiday.

So next time the government declares a public holiday, do your freelancer friends a favour and don’t ask why they are not overjoyed.

Public holidays are not holidays for us!

Thank you and God bless.

A few people that can also relate to this are social media managers, tailors (LMAOOO holidays are draining for them), people in the beauty industry and people who run side hustles.

If public holidays are frustrating for you, drop a comment.