Hi lovely people,
I want you to know how important you all are to me. In my opinion, this is a wonderful place to work because we share so many unifying positive values, and I’m the kind of person who instinctively keeps people at arms length whether they’re my best friend or a colleague I see once a year, so like, everyone is nearly equal in my life as far as instinctual general feelings about people. Maybe that sounds weird. It’s certainly not ideal, but that’s how I’ve been for a long time. I’m working on it, for the sake of my spouse, mostly.
If you have all the support that you need, you can stop with the takeaway that I appreciate you very much, and I am grateful to be slogging through working/surviving in a pandemic (and let’s be honest everything else on the way there, too) with you. [If you know what helped you form your coping strategies, lots of people would love to hear them including me.]
I hope to see you soon, and look forward to working with and knowing you as we have for many years.
Bye for now!
Ok, if you’re still here, that means you’re not sure that you have everything you need. The message I want to give to you is that you are not alone, and if you need a space to share your bad vibes and miraculous good vibes, I am SO here for it. When someday we get to actually relax like we remember, this will still hold true, but I think it’s really important to tell you now, that my door is open and I want to help you find a safe space. I want everyone to be able to get the support they need.
I hear about orgs with slack channels with space for informal conversations to bond with their coworkers, create a sense of community outside of their job descriptions, etc. I would probably say that an organization of our size and type doesn’t need one of those in normal times, but these aren’t normal times.
We don’t see each other every day anymore. I’ve been counting the start of my “quarantine” from March 21. We’re rounding on 300 days in the next week. Hallway meetings and chats and “short” checkins gone way too long don’t happen now. Some might be “able” to get more done because we aren’t socializing in these ways. It’s a huge, huge change for all of us. I hope and assume you have tried to process how HUUUUUUGE (in 1000 point font) it is. Or at least, I guess that I want you to know that’s where I am, and if you’re there too, know you’re not alone.
Imagine if we were in a bubble. Like, imagine we were on an NBA team and in order to do our job and entertain the people we had to isolate from everyone, so we could work together kind of as normal, in shared spaces. What would we be doing? Bonding. Venting. Sharing ways we are coping. Supporting each other as we all process each day’s many extraordinary headlines. And also working together to further the mission of our organization (s).
I’m going a little too far with my introduction to what I want to say.
Basically, if you’ve found yourself (especially during a workday) wondering, “Am I the only one here freaking out and wondering if I’m failing because it’s so f***ing hard to prioritize this work thing right now??”
[If you’re all good and you’re still reading because you’re curious, oh hello. The rest of us our doing our darndest and this is what it’s like for many people.]
Nope. You aren’t. I’ve been freaking out since 2017 and it’s terrible and toxic and has nearly broken me. I was on my last leg in January last year, before all of *this*. So.
Anyway.
In a bigger company, there’s some level of separation or even anonymity from your “big boss”. There are cliques, there are ways to form friendships and communities without wondering too much if you’re risking your whole reputation with the company if you share “emotional” personal information. We have never been more separated from our support systems, and even if we typically try to maintain professionalism in the workplace, in normal times we still support each other through our daily social interactions.
So, I want you to know that you are not alone, and if you need or want someone who can empathize with how you’re feeling, I am HERE with you. I’m here. I’m a hairs width from losing it. My head is barely on straight. After a year of therapy I’m feeling more confident about myself individually than I have in many years, but that doesn’t mean I’m not still losing it in regards to the general state of the world.
I think we lost many of the spaces where we can collectively process current events. I really just think it’s important to feel empowered to share what you’re going through, because I think that we were probably unconscious to how we unloaded stress and provided support to people before we were all so isolated.
I would be glad to build a water cooler corner where you can express your thoughts, opinions, state of mind, dread, hope, coping strategies, joys, and more because I know that I need to hear and share more of it myself, so you may as well. We could do it privately or in a group format, doesn’t matter. We just shouldn’t feel alone.
Ok. I guess that’s what I wanted to share. Hang in there.
Most sincerely,
Sarah
P.S. Today I broke myself away from my circling thoughts by playing a record to take me away from my devices, and then returning to an album that I had on repeat for most of the winter of 2013, which was the first winter that I experienced regular joy instead of deep seasonal depression. It was really hard to tear myself away from the internet for long enough to settle into this coping strategy, but it really really helped me. Hoping you are finding some space away from doom scrolling as well.
ad•ven•ture 