When people talk about the perks of freelancing, they often cite the flexible schedule as one of the biggest benefits. I’d have to agree; it’s extremely gratifying not to have to angst over running my kids to appointments or volunteering or school or—occasionally—even just taking a much-needed mental health day without having to worry about someone thinking I’m slacking. If you do it right, freelancing can afford you a flexibility in your scheduling that most conventional office jobs never can.

What’s talked about less often, though, is the flexibility a freelancer needs to have when it comes to dealing with clients. Clients are human, of course, and sometimes have changing needs. And particularly in today’s economic climate (I love that phrase, like today calls for a recession with periods of layoffs and possibly some rain), the freelancer who can roll with the punches is the one who survives. One of the things that means is that you can’t take anything personally.

I don’t know about you, but that’s easier said than done, sometimes.

Look; we all know the rules about not “burning bridges.” Your boss from yesterday may be a potential colleague at a job next year. It’s never a good idea to leave a job on anything but the most congenial terms you can muster, right? We all know that in theory, but in practice there are some jobs where you leave and thank your lucky stars that you will (hopefully) never work with those people again.

Me, I’m a pretty emotional person. I consider it my greatest weakness, actually. I mean, I’m all business when it comes to my career. But I have a a squishy pink center and it’s often hard for me to remember that “it’s just business” are words to live by. It hurts my feelings when I lose a job, even if I know the cause is something unrelated to me (like budgets, which are shrinking faster than I can type this). Sometimes I take things personally even when I know I shouldn’t. I know this about myself.

When I worked conventional office jobs, I could handle disappointments by retreating and licking my wounds and (usually) not having to deal with the people in question again.

Now that I’m a freelancer in a turbulent market, I’m learning that the game changes so quickly, there’s no time for that. A few weeks back I was actually sort of excited to lose a contract, because it meant I’d have more time for other things. A week later I was freaking out about the loss of income, and also starting to feel annoyed with the client because Hey! Not fair! (Yes, I’m mature like that.) But I put on my big girl pants (you’re welcome) and handled it like the professional I am; I kept it cordial and left the door open.

So when they came back to me this week to ask for a scaled-back parcel of work, I sure was glad I’d kept my feelings out of it and handled things professionally. And then I went out of my way to make sure I could accommodate them, both because I want the job and because I want them to know that I appreciate the vote of confidence.

And because being flexible is part of my job.