Projectless. It’s a real word now. I have my IT project consultant duties to my company, but sometimes I experience periods without projects or job offers. Sometimes it is seasonal (Companies usually don’t start up a new project during Christmas and Summer Holiday season), and sometimes it’s simply because no one is hiring. It happens. In 2015 I went through several months of no-projects-for-me, and since I was quite new to the consultant business, I had to learn how to tackle those periods – the hard way. It’s my hope that others in this situation can use these experiences, for inspiration, or at least for knowing that you are not alone.
I immediately started sleeping at night. My restlessness ceased (But not entirely). I also stopped getting sick. Obviously, this was a turning point for me. I was relieved that I felt better and that gave me back the drive to focus on testing.
Two years after I run, climb, do OCR and strength exercises. This period helped me realize that when I’ve got lots of things moving around in my head, I need to move around physically as well.
Stage 5. Got fit!
I decided that I had to get that stress out of my body. And the best way to do that, is to exercise. I would also benefit from having a daily goal, something I had to do, now that I couldn’t go to work every day. I was pretty below-average with regards to working out (As a Dane, at least). I didn’t care about going to the gym (I still think it’s pretty boring), I liked walking and biking, I could do 12 sit-ups at most, and sometimes I did some yoga. I started slow, reserving 30 min. every day to some exercises that I could do at home on a yoga mat. Muscle-strengthening exercises, not cardio. I browsed the Internet for some beginner exercises, and started. 20-25 Sit-ups, lunges, squats, etc… easy. I was blown away. I had in no way anticipated the extent of what daily exercise did for me.