My home is my office, my sanctuary and my prison!

When people talk about the freedom of being an entrepreneur, one of the things they always site is the freedom of working from home. They paint this picture of waking up whenever you want, not having to endure long commutes and not being hounded to attend mind numbing meetings that serve absolutely no purpose. The picture is beautiful. It’s serene and to some it even sounds magical. But nobody tells you about the downside of working from home.

How sometimes you have the tv on in the background just so it sounds like someone else is in the house, or how you pull all your curtains open wide so that you get rays of sunshine so you do not feel as isolated. Or how about feeling suffocated because the walls are literally closing in on you. Granted not everybody who works at home experiences these feelings but many of us whose business is mainly online and who do not have to physically meet clients or even meet stakeholders, we sometimes experience a sense of loneliness and isolation in this world of entrepreneurship.

Working from home has many benefits. It is something that millions around the world seek out and few really get to enjoy. It is rewarding in its own way yet scary at the best of times. It means sometimes starting work at 7am in the morning and not shutting off till 10pm at night only to realize you did not eat a meal or even speak to another human who was not a client or potential client. Your computer and your phone become your new best friends. Many days you enjoy the solitude of working from home, basking in the silence of the day as birds fly by your window and dogs bark in the distance. Most days you say thank god you did not have to sit through 2 hours of gridlock traffic to get to and from a freezing office. But on other days you feel trapped! Yes…trapped! Between 4 walls, loads of paper and a blinking laptop that is on its final breathe.

Some days I go to the mall and order a coffee chiller and just watch people walk by. Or go to the bank because somebody will actually talk to me as I wait in line…lol. Or call a friend and meet them for lunch just for an hour to get other human interaction. Many people don’t tell you the truth about working from home. I wouldn’t replace it for the world but some days as an online entrepreneur, I need a vacation from my own little sanctuary.

Have you experienced any of these feeling working from home? Tell me in the comments below.