Shift Happens

On sofas, seasons, and the freelancers who refuse to budge

Rachel Boyce

Mar 26, 2026

I moved the sofa last Tuesday.

Not because it was broken.

Not because I had bought a new one.

Just because it had been in the same spot for three months, I could feel it getting too comfortable.

The sofa, I mean. Not me. Well, maybe me too.

My fella came home, walked into the living room, and stood there like someone had rearranged his entire understanding of gravity.

“Why?” he said, in that tone reserved for people who genuinely cannot fathom the answer.

Because it was there. And now it is here. Keep up.

I am aware this makes me sound unhinged.

That is fine. But hear me out, because I think the way you feel about furniture says quite a lot about the way you feel about everything else.

I love change.

Properly love it.

Not in the way people say they love change on their LinkedIn profiles, while quietly having a meltdown if someone moves the Wednesday team meeting to Thursday.

I mean, I seek it out.

I rearrange rooms the way some people rearrange playlists, just for the sheer pleasure of making something familiar feel new again.

I watch the seasons shift in the garden with the kind of enthusiasm most people reserve for a holiday.

New buds in spring? Absolutely thrilling.

Leaves going crispy in autumn? Gorgeous.

My tomatoes finally giving up the ghost in November? Heartbreaking, but also, what a run!

New students, new projects, new courses to build… these are not disruptions to my working life. They are my working life. The moment something starts to feel like wallpaper, I know it is time to move it.

Now, I realise not everybody feels this way.

Some of you just read that last paragraph and felt your chest tighten.

And I get it, I really do.

There is comfort in routine, in knowing where everything is, in having your week mapped out lesson by lesson with the same lovely students who always book the same slot.

That is not laziness; it is human nature. We are wired to find a groove and sit in it.

But here is the thing. The groove is moving.

Whether you have noticed or not… and if you have not, I am genuinely impressed by your ability to ignore the internet… the pace of change in our world has gone from a gentle jog to a full-on sprint.

New platforms, new tools, new ways of reaching students, new expectations from the people who hire us.

AI alone has turned the industry on its head in the time it takes most of us to update our Zoom.

And that pace? It is not slowing down. If anything, it is lacing up its trainers for another lap.

So what happens if you are someone who would rather leave the sofa exactly where it is, thank you very much?

You get stuck.

Not dramatically, not overnight… but slowly, quietly, in a way that looks a lot like staying safe until it suddenly looks like falling behind.

The freelancers who thrive are the ones who treat their business like a living room that needs a good shake-up every now and then. Try a new niche. Test a different format. Build a course you are not entirely sure will work. Talk to a student demographic you have never considered. Move the sofa.

I am not saying you need to love change.

But I am saying you might want to stop treating it like an uninvited guest and start treating it like the slightly eccentric friend who always brings something interesting to the party, even if she does occasionally knock over your lamp.

Because the educators who will still be here in five years are not the ones who found the perfect system and clung to it. They are the ones who kept tinkering, kept experimenting, kept moving things around until the room felt right… and then moved them again.

So go on.

Pick one thing this week that has been sitting in the same spot for too long. A lesson plan, a pricing structure, a topic you have been meaning to explore, a piece of furniture.

Shift it.

See what happens.

You might hate it.

You might move it straight back.

But at least the room will smell different for five minutes.