Thank you for writing this! I work in a completely different industry, translation, but our experiences are not that different. I have been a freelancer for 10 years now, because unfortunately that is the standard in my industry rather than the exception. Even though I didn’t go back to a 9–5, I moved back home to Puerto Rico from the Bay Area searching for a lower cost of living and have been shedding clients ever since. I now keep a handful of clients that I enjoy working with. Still, I went through all the phases you described, beginning to think I hated translation, even though I used to be super passionate about it, that I had made a mistake in choosing this career and that I wasn’t good enough. I used to carry my laptop everywhere, even to gatherings with friends and family, and didn’t take a real vacation for 7 years because I didn’t know how to take time off. I spent too many Christmas Eves furiously typing away at the dinner table. Reading your experience makes me feel that there is something wrong with the freelance culture as a whole.