A few months ago I was forced to switch from freelancing back to a salaried position after many years doing the former. This article / the philosophy of the book under review really resonates with me, one of the things that made freelancing great for me was that I had the freedom to choose how I spent each hour of my day; no work, no pay (fair to my employer), no unpaid overtime (fair to me). For the most part, I was earning considerably less money than I could have otherwise but roughly equivalent to what I needed, and I was able to set myself up with a real sense of work-life balance.

For the most part this seemed healthy, but after reading your article and a few of the comments two things popped into my head that make me realize just how unhealthy it had become for me.

The first, that I've become really uncomfortable with taking sick days due to the fact that I wouldn't get paid for them. I'm taking PTO next week for the first time in years and I'm actually a bit anxious about doing so!

The second, that at some point I began putting a dollar value on each and every hour of my day.

In some ways, the latter can be a good thing: if I can pay someone less than I earn to do an unenjoyable task for me, then that's what makes the most financial sense. If I have to sit in traffic for a while just to get something done, it might not be worth doing. But if I was having a hard time time getting my hours in, each hour not spent working - even on things critical to my or my family's well-being - would leave me feeling like I was sitting on a ticking time bomb.

Switching back to a salary has been awkward for me, and there are some features of it I don't think I'm ever going to be truly happy about, but I am very grateful to have landed up with an employer and co-workers who understand the value of caring for an employee's well-being; sadly, that's not something to be taken for granted these days.