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.

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. 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.