I hear it all the time.

“I could never freelance. I’d go crazy all by myself.” Or: “How can you handle it? I’d get so lonely.” Or: “Ugh. Working at home. By myself? I’d never get anything done. I’d hate it.”

The truth is that freelancing is not for everyone. It’s an act of devotion to one’s freedom and discipline, an act of faith in the power of one’s writing/designing/creative skills. This is all true. But an additional truth on top of this? Many people discount freelancing too easily because of fear.

The people I talk to about my career will often readily admit that they are anxious or uneasy with the notion of freelancing due to the specter of loneliness. It’s something many freelancing blogs will talk about - how to ease the loneliness of freelancing. But here’s the thing. What many people are really afraid of when they contemplate freelancing is all the scads of time during which they are alone, with only themselves and their work to occupy them. People are afraid of being alone with themselves.

It makes sense in some ways. We’re social beings, and in many ways we define ourselves by what others decree and others think. We pay plenty of lip service to the idea that we only have ourselves to answer to, and that we should just be ourselves, and self-esteem self-awareness self-actualization blah blah blah. When it comes down to it, though, we’re afraid of ourselves.

This is a big idea that I’ll explore in several ways over the week, but I’ll keep it focused here. When it comes to the idea of freelancing, we’re afraid of being alone with ourselves for several reasons. We’re worried that with no external folks to report to, no Lumberg leaning over our shoulder, all productivity and discipline will turn into eating bon bons and watching Patch and Kayla. But there’s more. Deep down, people hesitant about freelancing are petrified that left alone to our own devices we’ll end up carrying on peopled conversations with ourselves and growing the world’s longest toenails.

There is reason to fear when it comes to the solitude of freelancing. We’re completely, solely, absolutely in charge of our livelihood, our health, our life. It’s terrifying in many ways. Failure looms large, and with only ourselves to blame and to talk to, we run the risk of turning into embittered old nutjobs. At least that’s the fear.

But fear can liberate. And being alone can be liberating.

Being alone as a freelancer, and being entirely responsible for one’s career, can be fantastically invigorating. We can choose where our money comes from. We can choose our schedule. We can choose to dress up or work in the sweats with the holes in the crotch.

The fear of the unknown and of being alone as a freelancer also makes us gloss over the benefits of working in a company. Being alone liberates us from the vicious and inherently harmful office politics that resemble junior high cliques. We can be free of time-suckers like unnecessary meetings, filler conversations, and paying homage to the big guns. We can be free of the stapler-loving weirdos that come with every office.

For those outside the freelancing world, and sometimes those new and green, freelancing represents fear. But the root of that fear, the specter of being alone and painfully, completely responsible, can be turned on its head. Freelancing is about being alone, yes, but it’s more than that. It’s about achieving the moment when our choices entirely control our future, the moment when we shed our skin of the corporate/employed world and emerge new as a sleek self-sustaining organism.

Fear is real, and it may have good reasons behind it. But freelancing means turning that fear into something incredible, and creating an amazing today and tomorrow.

What do you think?

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RANDOM LINK of the day: Southland Tales is a beast of a movie, one I’m still torn on. But one scene that is pretty incredible is a drug hallucination from a disfigured soldier, played by Justin Timberlake. The last few seconds, and the look on his face, are worth the entire movie…