Friday

I’ve come to realise that one of the things you lose when you run your own business is—your Friday evenings.

I used to run my own design studio for a few years, back when the world wasn’t yet familiar with working from home. It felt like paradise at first—the freedom to work anywhere, anytime, with anyone. Before quitting my full-time job, I imagined working only a few days a week and spending the rest of my time making music and art.

But reality hit quickly. I didn’t know where to find clients or collaborators. I had no sense of when the next payment would come in. And suddenly, from working a 9–5 job five days a week, I became someone who worked 24/7—forced to take on far more than just the role of a designer.

Eventually, I got through the early tough years, but new problems emerged. I was afraid to stop working. My sense of “Friday evening” slowly disappeared. As a sole trader, I had no one to really talk to. At some point, I became scared to open my email, whether it brought new work or urgent tasks. I just wanted to finish everything and shut the world out.

It’s funny—when I had no work, I was afraid. When I had too much work to pause, I was afraid too. What I really wanted was the feeling of a simple Friday evening, something that had been missing for years.

Looking back now, I realise my Friday evenings didn’t disappear—they just expanded. Instead of five days on and two days off, my work stretched into months. I would grind endlessly and then travel only after delivering everything. My weekly 52 moments of small happiness collapsed into just a few trips a year.

Today, as I write this, I’m working full-time again at my dream company, and I’m genuinely happy every time Friday arrives. Sometimes we spend so much time chasing the happiness we don’t have that we forget the happiness we already do.

Losing something temporarily can sharpen our gratitude. It can bring us back to the joy of simple things.

Being content with what I have—that’s my happiness.Happy Friday.