taking a break from 9–5.

Ebru Kaya
3 min readJun 30, 2020

Sometimes I feel like I just need a break before something new starts or to start something new. The first break that I have taken was after university before my professional life starts. The second one is now, after 2 and a half years, a break from 9–5 to focus on personal projects for a while.

iceland, 18
iceland ‘18

It is not about if I do not like my employer or not, on the contrary, I pretty much loved the culture of both companies that I have worked for in many aspects. I had a great income, and I learned a lot, especially about the entrepreneurial part lately which led me to this moment quicker than I thought maybe. Because I have always adored the idea of feeling ownership rather than the sense of having just tasks to complete at the end of the day.

Sometimes I have so many thoughts come together in my mind that I cannot properly focus on others, and it leads me to lose my inner peace in the long run. I lived it once in quite a depressive way and I am not keen on living it again anytime soon. I thought happiness was the answer for a while but my answer has changed over the past few years. I think inner peace is the answer because without it you just have a deep sadness growing inside even in the happiest times.

I have realized while working from home lately that I am very aware of what brings me joy even while working. I just love creating stuff with my whole heart, bootstrapping projects working end to end. I think the secret recipe for me here is that when I choose the time to spend on them.

I believe freedom mostly makes human beings more creative, at least I have a firm belief that it works like that for me. I can work hours and hours a day on something that I am passionate about because I do not feel like I am working at all, but on some days it is also okay not to feel this way. All individuals are different of course. Sometimes we might be more productive at different times of the day, in different places, or with more strict deadlines. It is all about knowing yourself and trying your best to find something that suits you the best.

This is the main reason why I am taking a break because these crawling ideas need to be tried and gone to have a clearer mind. I am taking a break because life can be too short to postpone things you want to do one day.

This one day might not come at all.

I am finally starting my little software and design — which are the things that I love the most when it comes to working on — a studio that focuses on bringing its own product ideas to life one at a time. I have some savings to cover my expenses for this break, but I do not know what the future holds, it can be good, but it can be bad in the end. Maybe I will like this lifestyle, or maybe not. Not always everything goes according to plan and life just happens eventually. But at least I will try it and see how it goes. I am open to changing my direction at any point since this break is also all about it. Having the freedom to spend your days as you wish, living in the moment as much as you can.

Therefore I think the matter here is if you can take all responsibility in any case. I am willing to take this risk and pretty excited about it.

Let’s see what the future holds, I hope by living it.

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Ebru Kaya

founder at noecrafts / a coder, indie maker and lover of nature 🍃 https://ebrukaya.me