Latest news with #freelancewriter
Telegraph
18-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
A hike in mortgage rates might force me to recruit another terrier-loving lodger
I'm obsessively monitoring the financial headlines. 'Tax raid looms'. 'Job market slows'. 'Economy shrinks'. 'Food prices up'. 'Interest rate cut likely', and so on. Cheery stuff like that. I don't pretend to understand terms such as 'fiscal headroom' or 'consumer resilience', but I read them all the same. It's anything about interest rates that I find most gripping, though, because my mortgage is up in a month and it's not looking great. After five blessed years of a lovely low rate, I'm now facing something much higher, and my repayments are likely to double. It's a choppy time for a freelance writer. 'I should have become a corporate lawyer after all,' I thought last week, squinting through yet another financial article about the chances of a rate cut next month. The lack of knowledge about fiscal headroom and consumer resilience might have held me back, but I'm sure I could have muddled through. I keep checking in with my mortgage adviser, a terrifically jolly man called James who's often on holiday (most recently in Croatia, so perhaps I should have become a mortgage adviser instead?), and he's doing his best to fiddle around and see what can be done, but still, like plenty of others across the country, I'm facing a hike. Should I find a second lodger, that's the big question. I already have one living with me in south-east London, but soon we may need a third party to join us. Or a fourth, if we include Dennis, my terrier. Given that I'm 40, this feels very studenty. Three of us milling around in the kitchen, trying to make supper at the same time? Separate shelves in the fridge? Taking it in turns to use the washing machine? 'You have a flatmate?' a friend said, in vaguely horrified tones, when she came for dinner recently. 'Yes,' I replied simply. I wanted to add (but didn't), 'and you have a husband to share the mortgage, so try not to sound so patronising'. I don't have a husband, and Dennis is rubbish at contributing to the bills, so it's just me on the mortgage. One flatmate helps, but if my repayments double, then another one would help even further. But the idea of having to wait for someone else's pants to dry on the line before I can hang my own isn't absolutely filling me with joy. I know, I know, I'm extremely fortunate to own anywhere at all, to have two spare rooms that I can let out. Moaning about mortgage repayments when plenty of Gen Z say they'll never be able to afford a house is the kind of grumble which is likely to get me metaphorically lynched on the internet. Again. But the looming increase is making me feel more sympathetic to those who carp on about the 'singles tax' – the extra costs single people face because they don't have a partner to share household bills, car repayments, grocery shopping, and the odd emergency trip to the vet because the dog has swallowed yet another chicken bone off the pavement.
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
I quit my dream job to be a stay-at-home dad, while my wife works full time. It's the best arrangement for us.
After years of juggling parenting and working from home, I decided to leave my full-time job. I loved my career, but I needed more flexibility to take care of our two young kids. After seven months, it has already been one of the best decisions we've ever made. Last year, I quit my dream job to be a stay-at-home dad while my wife worked full time. It was the best decision for our family, and I've loved every minute of it. My wife has always been the primary breadwinner of the family, so we decided I could step back from my career to work part time as a freelance writer and — most importantly — take care of our two little ones, a 3-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy. It has been challenging in ways I couldn't have predicted, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I have been a healthcare journalist for nearly a decade, mostly working as a full-time editor or staff writer for various media companies. I have always loved this kind of work, and every new opportunity felt like a dream job. But everything started to change after my wife and I had our first kid at the end of 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic turned me into a work-from-home dad with a 4-month-old boy. I was suddenly a full-time editor and a full-time caretaker. In those days, my wife worked on the front lines of the pandemic as a physician assistant, while my son and I were trapped in a small two-bedroom apartment in New Rochelle, NY. It was the first time I had to suffer through the split focus of working and parenting full time. Even after the pandemic began to subside, my wife continued to work more than 50 hours a week at the hospital. So, I eventually settled into my role as a stay-at-home, work-from-home dad, with the help of grandparents and a local day care. But this was only the beginning of my work-life struggles. By the end of 2022, a lot had changed for my family. We relocated to the Atlanta area. My wife took a new job at a local hospital that demanded slightly fewer hours. I landed an exciting new position as a medical reporter for a national publication, while our little girl was turning 1 year old. It was a happy time for our family, but the pressure to be a successful reporter and an always-available father started to become too much for me. Even though my wife's new role offered better hours, she still didn't have the flexibility to leave work at a moment's notice. We always knew it would be my responsibility to take care of any sudden, unexpected issues for the family. On sick days, I would balance trips to the pediatrician's office with phone interviews with sources. When holiday calendars between day care and work didn't match, I would serve snacks in between typing up paragraphs for my next article. It was a difficult balancing act. My new job required much of my mental energy, and the kids always needed more attention than I could give during workdays. It became clear that our family needed to make a change. After two years of balancing work and family needs with mixed success, my wife and I decided it was time for me to quit my job to focus on our family. The change had an immediate impact on all our lives. Now, I no longer have to split my attention between my kids and my work. When they get sick, I can drop everything to take them to the doctor, then bring them home to take care of them. I also have plenty of time to focus on chores to keep the house clean, cook healthy meals, and spend time with my kids and my wife without worrying about falling behind at work. I never have to worry about misaligned holiday schedules or hiding in my office to finish work assignments. It was nerve-racking to leave full-time employment after nine years, but after seven months of being a stay-at-home dad, I can't imagine doing it any other way. Read the original article on Business Insider
CNET
10-06-2025
- Business
- CNET
I Used ChatGPT to Plan a Career Pivot, and Found It Empowering
The future of work, and the very concept of a career, is on shaky ground. While technologists and business leaders prophesize over the most likely economic impact of AI, workers are left wondering where their place and purpose will be in the decade ahead. With a tough job market, the cost of living, the rise of AI and global uncertainty, it's a good time to contemplate your career. You can do this with the help of an AI chatbot, which can talk through your options and come up with a plan. If you can't handle another week of Sunday scaries, you're experiencing a career calling in another direction or simply want a backup plan if robots take over, use ChatGPT as a brainstorming buddy. You can also chat through how to negotiate a raise, write a cover letter and resume, find a new job and use it as a career coach. Career change, here I come This exercise isn't for a role shift or moving around within the same industry. Rather, it's to help guide your thinking if you're considering a complete career change. Quick caveat: Don't make any important life decisions using only AI. Sit with the chatbot's suggestions, talk to the people in your life, do your own research and ponder on what a new profession might look like. While I'm happy with my job as a freelance writer (yes, even in the age of AI), I'll use myself as an example of how to walk through the process. According to the World Economic Forum, there will be 92 million displaced jobs, but 170 million new jobs in the next decade. Meaning the next era will be more about career changes than job losses. I downloaded the 290-page document so I could upload it into ChatGPT to interpret and use in its career shift suggestions. You want to pick lucrative career paths that are on the rise, not in decline. Log into ChatGPT so it has all the context about you from any previous times you've used it for questions or advice. You might need to feed it more information about your interests, goals and life vision, though. If you tried the "dream day in the life" trend, this is good information to use. You likely have more of an idea about what you want to do with your life now than you did when you were 18. Use your life experiences and learnings to guide ChatGPT. If you have an idea of the area you'd like to move into next, tell ChatGPT. If not, start here: "I'm currently a [role] at [company] and have been working in [industry] for [number of years]. I'm interested in [X], [Y], [Z]. What are some different career paths and industries that could be suitable? Use everything you know about me, as well as this attached report to identify lucrative career options." For me, ChatGPT provided some writer-adjacent career options, like a communications director, policy writer, workshop facilitator or marketing manager. These were still within the communications realm, so I had to specify in my second prompt that I was looking for a complete career change. But I didn't love what it suggested: ChatGPT/Screenshot by CNET I told ChatGPT that I'd be willing to upskill and get another degree. It came up with a behavioral scientist, human-centered AI ethicist, a role in urban design and policy, and a mental health innovator. All of these roles were still very "techy" and not really what I'd be into. I gave that feedback to ChatGPT. While the non-tech, high-demand job suggestions were a little closer, nothing excited me. ChatGPT kept trying to push me into sustainability and education. Two noble paths, but neither light me up. New career suggestions This time, I told ChatGPT that I have a growing interest in women's health and fertility, after going through IVF. I asked: What are some lucrative, fast-growing career paths in this sector? ChatGPT/Screenshot by CNET ChatGPT laid out a few possible paths, with training options and earning potential. For example, a fertility coach, patient advocate, policy advocate, head of content for a fertility brand, editorial director for a women's health publication or founder for a women's health venture. ChatGPT/Screenshot by CNET Now we're talking! Next, I said I'd slowly transition into this field over the next five years and would be happy to do more study, then asked for more recommendations and a timeline to work toward. Here's the suggested roadmap: ChatGPT/Screenshot by CNET ChatGPT/Screenshot by CNET I asked ChatGPT to tweak the timeline, based on a few changes, and it gave me another updated five-year transition plan. While the plan wasn't perfect, it was 80% there. ChatGPT gave me ideas I hadn't thought of and provided some pretty convincing stats, like what the fastest-growing job categories will be, predicted employment rates, wage potential and median salary. This was an empowering exercise that everyone should do. It's always good to have a plan B in place. Remember you'll probably have to hold the AI chatbot's hand before it will reach the right path for you -- and then it'll be able to give you ideas and information on what you need to do to get the rest of the way there. Just make sure you also talk to some real people before committing to anything.
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Yahoo
As a digital nomad, I thought dating was impossible. But I had a whirlwind romance in Argentina and developed a long-distance relationship.
I'm a digital nomad and met my partner in Argentina two years ago. We talked daily for the next eight months, and I decided to return to Argentina in 2024. We fell in love and are building a life together in an unconventional way, but it works for us. When I started traveling full-time almost four years ago, I promised myself I'd go on dates, but I also knew that a long-term relationship was out of the question. As a digital nomad and freelance writer, I get the unique opportunity to travel all over the world and write about my experiences. It's truly a dream job, but sacrifices and tradeoffs must always be made — like relationships. How could I develop a meaningful connection if I only spend one or two months in a city at a time? Even if I did find someone I wanted to pursue a future with, I knew I was unwilling to change my lifestyle. Full-time travel is a dream that I can't give up. All of that changed when I met my partner. I spent the first few months of 2023 in Argentina, one of my favorite countries in the world. In February, I received a message on Grindr, which is notoriously known as a gay hookup app with a low success rate for relationships. Still, I hoped for something more, and I figured if I was on the app, there must also be a couple of other people like me out there. Over the next few days, I started chatting with this person, who introduced himself as Lauti. He asked me out on a date, but unfortunately, I was leaving Buenos Aires to go to a different city in Argentina the following morning. I told him I'd be back in six weeks, and we decided to meet then. The day after I flew back to Buenos Aires, we went on our first date, and something clicked. For the next three weeks, we embarked on a whirlwind romance and were virtually inseparable. Then, I packed up and flew to Mexico, and even though we liked each other, I knew nothing could realistically come from it. We decided to take things one day at a time and not put a label on anything — just see what happened while I was traveling. As the days went on, the texting and phone calls continued. After Mexico, I flew to Europe for the summer, and even with five or six hour time differences, we found ourselves prioritizing each other and making space for video call dates, life updates, and deeper conversations. Despite the distance, things got more serious month after month, and I realized I was essentially in a long-distance relationship. So, I planned my return to Argentina for January 2024 — eight months after I left. We finally put a label on what we both felt, and a few weeks later, he told me he loved me for the first time. We faced yet another goodbye in April when I left for Peru. Luckily, this period of long-distance was short since he came to visit a month later for his birthday in May. Then, we went seven months without seeing each other while I was off exploring Europe, Asia, and Australia. He came to Colombia in December 2024 for our first holiday season together, which was every bit as magical as we hoped it would be. I returned to Argentina at the end of January this year, and we've lived together for the past four months. Luckily, our time apart seems to be getting shorter each year. I'll leave Argentina in a few weeks, and we will be apart for just three months. Each long-distance period has its challenges. During the first stint, we were still getting to know each other, which made communication tricky. The second time, we were much better at communicating, but it was more challenging in its own way. I often don't know where I'll live in a few months' time, so it's impossible to know when we will be together again. Even so, we're embracing the challenges of a long-distance relationship. How do we prioritize seeing each other? How do we balance two different cultures? How can we accomplish our own goals while still growing together? These questions don't have simple answers, and they are constantly evolving. Some aspects of our relationship progressed quickly, while others have been harder to nurture due to my lifestyle. However, this has become our normal, making us appreciate our time together so much more. In our time apart, we still prioritize each other, but also spend time planning our future and growing individually. I had an idea of what a relationship was supposed to be, and I thought that a nomadic lifestyle would be antithetical to that ideal. I've realized there isn't a perfect relationship, and I can accomplish two things simultaneously: a loving relationship and an unwavering desire to see every corner of the world. I don't have to sacrifice one to achieve the other, but I must be intentional with my time. Read the original article on Business Insider
Telegraph
28-05-2025
- General
- Telegraph
When you're 6ft 5in, everything is a concussion hazard. The world wasn't built for us
When Edi Rama, the 6ft 7in prime minister of Albania, was pictured next to Keir Starmer two weeks ago, the newspaper headlines used words such as 'towering' and 'dominant'. No one thought to ask Mr Rama how his lower back was or whether he'd had the misfortune of looking at the tops of other people's fridges that day. (Honestly, they're gross; get a little kitchen step, you'll see. Regular antibacterial spray won't cut it, either – you'll need a grease remover.) As a 6ft 5in man, I dread to think how Mr Rama, who presumably meets dozens of people every week, copes with meet-and-greets. I'm just a hermit freelance writer, two inches shorter than he is, and even I have to endure this exact conversation every few days with someone I don't know: 'How tall are you, then?' 'About 6ft 5in.' 'Gosh.' 'Yes, but I do have my heels on, ha ha.' 'Ha ha.' 'Ha ha haaa...' Even without the not-so-small talk, being vertically gifted isn't always the gift that shorter people assume it is. There are aches and awkwardness, bumps and badly designed clothes, and it all starts as soon as we wake up. Morning has broken Tall people begin our days unfolding our limbs and cracking our joints. We duck under nipple-height showerheads and dry off with miniskirt towels. Then we arch in front of mirrors that don't fit our full frame and check that none of the clothes we have on has shrunk in the wash. If I pick out a T-shirt that's lost even an inch in length, there's a real risk of belly hair exposure in the hours ahead. That can't be allowed to happen. Not again. Fashion in general is a minefield for vertical one-percenters like me. 'Ankle length' trousers strike mid-calf and cropped jackets tickle the ribcage. Off-the-peg tailoring is nigh-on impossible, and even so-called 'big and tall' ranges rarely measure up. And it's important to look good because, frankly, there's more competition than ever. Research suggests that big men may be getting bigger. In January, scientists published a paper in a journal called Biology Letters, which showed that men have grown twice as much over the past century as women. The paper's title is quite something: 'The sexy and formidable male body: men's height and weight are condition-dependent, sexually selected traits.' Its authors speculate that women's sexual preferences may have driven a trend for taller and more muscular men. In other words, the reason that I bang my head so often may be because 20th-century women found lanky men irresistible. In research terms, it makes a certain amount of sense. Height is associated with attraction and 'dominance' in social psychology. Previous research has found that heterosexual women have a preference for men who are taller than they are, while other work suggests that tall men earn more than short guys with the same qualifications. Facing the day How it all stacks up to the experience of men like me might be another thing. If I'm anything to go by, tall men are gangly, awkward and accident-prone, as the angular light fittings in my in-laws' living room will testify. I've hit my head on those more times than I remember and I do the same thing everywhere else. The handles on the bus, the neighbours' unkempt foliage, the gate to our local park, which is designed to keep out larger vehicles but is positioned low enough to present me with yet another concussion hazard. So forget dominance; the world wasn't built for us. Need some more examples? I have many. Cars are claustrophobic. Mirrors are hung too low. Airline seats are a nightmare. Shirts never stay tucked. Canal boat holidays? They're completely out of the question. Tall people also live in a state of constant hypervigilance, alert to the minute-by-minute threat of a rogue umbrella spoke or low-flying pigeon. I once had a bad experience with an out-of-control rotary washing line. A gust of wind caught a bedsheet and as the whole thing swung around, one of the arms squelched right into my eyeball. Short kings may have to crane their necks every once in a while but they're rarely troubled by this eye-level menace. Don't get me wrong, there are benefits of being tall. The one people often mention is the ability to reach stuff – but honestly, being able to grab things from the top shelf at B&Q doesn't feel like a particularly big win in the genetic lottery. People also assume you're athletic. I grew up in south Wales, where friends told me I'd make a good second row in the rugby team (never happened; too scrawny). When I moved to London, I worked at a fitness magazine, but never came close to whipping my top off for the front cover. Aside from being the GOAT at piggy in the middle, I'm more Stephen Merchant than Martin Johnson. High jinks I do always have a good view at gigs. I can usually spot my children in a crowd and they can spot me. Nobody's ever picked a fight with me, as far as I can remember, although I do get passive-aggressive tuts from the people sitting behind me at the theatre. (I am sorry, but if it's any consolation, I'm curled up like a prawn for the whole performance and my spine is dangerously compressed.) You do end up a little self-conscious about your height. Of course you do. I call it tall man syndrome. We all know that a vocal subsection of short men overcompensate for their pint-sized stature with bullish behaviour. Well, I do the opposite. My friends will tell you I'm the least aggressive person they know. I refuse to dance because every movement is exaggerated by my ridiculous wingspan. I won't ever push past you at a busy train station because there's a reasonable chance I'll knock you over. I would like to go unseen, but incognito mode isn't among my user settings. People always see you coming. The long goodnight Have you ever seen a 6ft 5in man in the foetal position? It's absurd, I promise you. There's just too much anatomy, and it's all squished together and grotesquely arranged, like a murder victim stuffed into a suitcase. I know this, reader, because I was that overgrown foetus – every night, in my own bed – for the first 15 years of my adult life. At 6ft 5in, I do not fit comfortably into many beds – and none in the various rental properties I lived in as a younger man. My feet either dangle over the end or I lie diagonally, much to the outrage of my wife. When there's no other option, I tuck my knees up pathetically and fall asleep looking like that weird Voldemort creature at the end of the last Harry Potter film. When we bought our house 10 years ago, I insisted on a super-king bed. The vast mattress, a full 2m (or 6ft 6in) in length, was a revelation. I've slept wonderfully ever since. And yes, once or twice in the intervening years, I may have referred to myself as a super king, but who could blame me? I am quite literally above average. There are also more serious consequences of being lanky. Researchers find that tall people have a greater risk of some cancers because, with more cells in our bodies, there are more chances of a dodgy mutation. There are also irregular heartbeats, bad backs, skin and bone infections. On the plus side, tall people are less likely to suffer coronary heart disease, high blood pressure or high cholesterol. And that's it. Being tall has its ups and downs, just like everyone else. Yes, there are times when I am forced to bow – again, literally – to the average-sized tyranny of the modern world. But I'm a big boy. I can take it.
