I'm a registered architect with a few years experience, working as a project architect at a corporate firm in a medium-sized city. I like the firm I work for and the people I work with, but the projects aren't particularly inspiring. Most of my clients are developers, and I find that their values tend to be sharply at odds with my own. My previous experience involved more public sector, nonprofit, and higher ed clients who I found much easier to relate to and work for.

Also, I'm coming around to the idea that I'm just cut out for a corporate practice environment. I'm very much an introvert and tend to be pretty quiet. The open office atmosphere and constant pressure to interact with people is very distracting and physically draining for me. I also have a couple of chronic health issues (depression and mild Asperger's) that sometimes prevents me from performing at 100% or being particularly social. I've been fired from jobs in the past because of this, despite my strengths in other areas, and my bosses at my current gig have already warned me about my productivity when I had a bit of a mental health lapse earlier in the summer. I haven't told them about my condition yet; while they seem generally open-minded, my prior experience indicates there's still a strong stigma surrounding mental health issues and I don't want to make it seem like I'm making excuses. Even in the most "progressive" workplaces there seems to be a lot of pressure to be a certain Type-A personality type that just isn't me.

I don't want to spend the rest of my career staring into a computer screen, being called out each time I need to take a break, and under constant pressure to produce, produce, produce. I've done some occasional freelance projects for individual property owners in the past, and while none of those projects will probably win any design awards, I found the client relationships and the freedom to work my own way to be very rewarding. If I want to sleep until noon and then work past midnight in my pajamas, then that's my prerogative as long as I meet my commitments. I often think about launching my own solo practice, but I don't yet have enough of a client base to make it financially viable. My ideal career path would involve a solo practice (maybe eventually growing to a small design-oriented boutique firm, but I have no ambitions to become the next Arthur Gensler) combined with some writing and/or teaching.

My questions for the forum:

In the short term, what's the best way to address my mental health issues with my employer? Sometimes I honestly feel like I'm backed into a corner. Should I start looking for work in a smaller firm that might be more flexible, and does the kind of work I'm more interested in?

In the longer term, how does one get from my present-day situation to where I want to be? Getting clients is obviously important, but I don't yet have much of a network in this city. I'm already making a deliberate effort to get involved in activities that are likely to put me into contact with like-minded people who could include potential clients, but I'm open to other ideas.

For those who launched their own solo practices: How did you know it was time to fly solo, and what were your first steps in making it work? What were your biggest surprises, and what are your biggest regrets? Has it been worth the effort, or was it just a case of the grass being greener on the other side? Given my health issues, does flying solo sound like an idea worth pursuing, or is there something to be said for the structure and relative security of a corporate setting? Should I consider getting a less stressful day job that would pay the bills while giving me more freedom to pursue freelance clients on the side?