How To: Take a real break over festive period (or whenever you need one)

For freelancers, a holiday break isn’t automatic. This week, we’re looking at how setting mental boundaries is the first step to actually switching off.

If you’re a freelancer, you already know that December looks different for us. While friends in salaried jobs wrap up early, pile into office parties, and ease their way into paid annual leave, emerging creatives often find themselves doing the opposite: tying up loose ends, chasing invoices, saying yes to last-minute projects, or simply trying to finish the year feeling like they’ve kept their head above water.

It’s exactly why we’re hosting our own version of an office Christmas party (Si apre in una nuova finestra) – designed specifically for the people who don’t get one. If you’ve ever wished the freelance calendar came with more rituals, this is your sign to make one for yourself. Details and member discount are at the bottom of this email.

Because here’s the thing: freelancers don’t just lose out on office parties, we also miss the “automatic” festive break. No one hands us a company-wide out-of-office or shuts down the studio for two weeks. If we want rest, we have to choose it, plan for it, and defend it.

And taking a break – whether that’s in December, or in whatever quiet pocket of the year you can carve out – is essential. Your creative brain needs space to reset, and your nervous system needs permission to log out, because your work will be stronger in the new year if you allow yourself to stop now.

Below, we’re sharing practical ways to genuinely switch off (not the performative kind of downtime where you’re still checking emails in the supermarket queue) but the kind of rest that makes January feel possible again.