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Self-Assessment

Does Your Freelancing Say ‘Amateur’?

Posted on December 18, 2020December 18, 2020 by lwidmer

Maybe it was bad SEO keyword use. Or maybe it’s just lousy writing. Honestly, on my first read, it didn’t really matter, because I tuned out. A writer friend sent over what is probably one of the worst examples of whatever kind of writing this bot was trying to emulate. Yes, I said bot. I…

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The Freelancer’s Self-Assessment Guide (or what I learned from a week in the woods)

Posted on September 25, 2018September 24, 2018 by lwidmer

To say it was a good week away would be a stretch. It was relaxing. It was necessary. But it was full of memories and, for me, tears. Maybe the decision to head to the cottage in Ontario right after a memorial for my father wasn’t the best idea. It was all too raw yet….

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  1. Paula Hendrickson Avatar
    Paula Hendrickson
    September 25, 2018

    Your father has been gone for less than a year, Lori. And that year is filled with firsts. Grief takes most of us a long time to process and get through, and while the sense of loss never fully goes away, at some point–probably without your even realizing it—those memories that bring tears today will bring smiles and laughter. There’s no schedule for grief, either.

    Lately I’ve had this feeling that certain people in my life view me as somehow inferior. You know, when the people who have kids (even adult kids) are always the ones to set holiday plans, leaving my sister and me out of the loop. Intellectually, I know it’s because they have more schedules to juggle. But I’ve also noticed that the same two who tend to make all of the plans second guess me. Often it’s about cooking (they seem to forget I did most of the cooking around here even before my mom died). The funniest was when my niece was about 10 and asked me to teach her to knit. We barely got started when the two planners started watching and correcting me. They both know how to knit, but were taught the continental way (aka “picking”) which is faster than the English way (“throwing”) I was taught. All they did was confuse my niece. I finally looked up at them and said, “What’s the last thing either of you knitted?” They backed off, but by then my poor niece was so confused.

    With the holidays fast approaching, a lot of those incidents are bubbling to the surface, so I’m really trying to remember that even when these things happen, it’s not about me being inferior. It about others needing to share their opinions. I’m sure I do similar things to them without realizing it, too.

    I’m way more assertive with work stuff.

    Reply
    1. lwidmer Avatar
      lwidmer
      October 1, 2018

      Paula, don’t we all get that feeling now and then? We feel inferior, and often the triggers are so mundane or unnoticeable to anyone else. It’s often something inside us that happened years ago — something that, upon reflection, could be cleared up with a conversation.

      Maybe just start the holiday plans for your sister. Tell her “These are the days I’m available” and ask her to check with you should she need to go beyond one of those dates.

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