Editor’s note: Angela Connor is a former journalist, entrepreneur and communications executive. She launched her own PR firm in 2018, created the Women Inspiring Women Conference in 2019 and opened a podcast studio in 2020. In 2021, she made the difficult decision to shut down her firm to rejoin the corporate world. She now serves as Bandwidth’s Director of Internal Communications and Storytelling. Find her newsletter here.

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RALEIGH — Three months after launching my PR Firm back in 2018, I moved into a co-working space in Raleigh. I needed an office, somewhere I could be around other professionals, invite my clients for meetings and if I’m honest, to legitimize the massive move I’d just made leaving corporate America and going out on my own with not much of a roadmap in place to ensure success. But in addition to that, and more importantly — I could not stand the loneliness of working from home.

During those first three months, I spent hours at Panera, my local library and even Starbucks, because I didn’t like the way it felt to work from my home all day. Once I realized that those establishments didn’t do much for me either, only serving as a cheap band-aid, I decided I’d add the cost of renting office space to my books. Though it may have appeared to be a luxury at the time, it felt to me like a necessity. And it was. I thrived in that office space. It gave me a sense of purpose I didn’t feel walking from my bedroom to my home office. I still got up every day and drove to the office and that energized me in the same way it did before I became an entrepreneur.

Fast forward to November 2020, after staying in my office long after most of my clients were ordered home due to the pandemic, I finally gave up the space and moved back to my home office. I was so unhappy, but at the same time wasting money on office rent when the pandemic was creating other issues made zero sense. I had a tough conversation with myself and did the right thing. But it was painful. The only thing that kept me sane was the fact my daughter, who was in 10th grade at the time was also home due to the pandemic. We started going out to grab lunch together daily and talked whenever our schedules allowed.

When May came around, she was able to go back to school in-person, (albeit only for a little more than 6 weeks before the school year ended) and 11th grade started back as normal in August, in-person. I had lost my co-worker and truly had to deal with the full loneliness of being an entrepreneur who no longer had an office or anyone to talk to on a daily basis. It was also during this time I’d decided for many reasons, I was done and wanted to return to corporate America. I had done all I was going to do as an entrepreneur, and just before she she went back to school in-person, I went back to corporate America, in-person.

While I’d had an employee for over a year, two interns and at one point, two employees, I was still lonely. Even with the vast network of women I’m connected with and my involvement on three Boards of Directors, virtual speaking engagements and other online events, I was not feeling fulfilled. I had not been warned about the feelings of loneliness that come with entrepreneurship and had quickly learned it wasn’t a hot topic or one to engage in much as it might be a sign of weakness or not being cut out for doing your own thing. It was something to keep hidden and endure like a boss. I did my best for nearly three years, but as I started to evaluate my next move, and practiced brutal honesty with myself I came to terms with the weight of the loneliness and that helped me make my decision to leave it all behind. So when the right opportunity came up, I jumped on it. And it has proven to be one of the best career moves I’ve made to date.

There are many revelations that come with being an entrepreneur. The responsibility of wearing all the hats takes its toll, and when you’re doing most of it alone, loneliness can be inevitable. It’s not necessarily something you can fully understand until you’re in it. And if that loneliness has taken its toll on you it is more than okay to do something about it, even if that something is leaving it behind. The choice is always yours. Remember that.