Hi friends!
A couple of months back, I opined about the beauty of glimmers. For the uninitiated, glimmers are the opposite of triggers, they are little moments in your life that bring you joy. So this week, while I wrestle with the “should”s that come with every January, I wanted to share some work-week glimmers with you.
Glimmer #1: My supervisor returned to the office after taking a long break to support her wellbeing.
This first glimmer is honestly three glimmers standing on top of one another in a trench coat. The first element of this glimmer is that I really respect my boss and am actually excited to have her return. The second element is that she is someone that I enjoy working with and learning from, and I get to do that Monday through Friday from 9 to 5. The third element is that my team has a culture of prioritizing our well-being as humans. As much as I wish I could be the kind of person who thrives on 80-hour workweeks, I really cannot. In fact, I value the fact that I am a human who enjoys sunlight, fresh air, and time with my friends. It is nice to be on a team that values that too.
Glimmer #2: Since coming back from the holidays, my team has been having discussions about sustainable work practices, avoiding burnout, and maintaining work-life balance.
The refrain of this newsletter is that I am stunned at just how burnt out I was able to get in only a couple of years of working. Maybe there is something about my wiring that predisposes me to this fate. That being said, having active conversations about tools to address the factors leading to burnout is helping me identify ways to avoid falling into burnout in the future. I am convinced that none of the literature that exists on burnout has the solution to this problem — at least not one that works for me. These conversations that I am having with my team are providing me with spaghetti to throw at the wall as I work to figure out my own way to navigate workplace stress. If I discover the secret to avoiding burnout, you will be the first to know.
Glimmer #3: I took a sick day and slept so much.
It’s cold/flu season where I am; unfortunately, my immune system has let me down. There were phlemy coughs involved. I will spare you the details. The glimmer part of this story is that I had the flexibility and support from my team in order to take a sick day and truly rest. The world still spun when I opened my laptop the next day.
Glimmer #4: I made some killer chicken soup and traded a bowl of it for some elderberry syrup to try to kick this cold.
Yes, the soup was good, if I do say so myself, and yes, elderberry is also meant to be a great supplement to modern cold medicine. Truthfully though, that is not the glimmer-y-est part of this situation. The true glimmer came from my friend hearing that I was sick and knowing that she had elderberry syrup in her cupboard to share with me, and with me, in the same spirit of friendship offering her a bowl of soup because sometimes cooking sucks and you just need to eat. That interaction felt so human and kind. It was a good reminder that while we exist with this modern system, we also exist within our own systems of friendship and intimacy. (I have no idea if that makes sense. If not, I plea “sick brain”).
A brief note on the “Should”s:
As you may know from my previous “glimmers” post, they are my antidote to the world being a little bit hard. Part of what makes my world hard is my ever-present list of “Should”s. There are upsides to “Should”s and there are downsides to them, too.
One upside: the motivation. My Femme Futures Cooperative “should”s are going to have this newsletter living, growing, and moving. I want to engage more with writing on the topics that I discuss, find ways to increase community engagement, and maybe even monetize.
The downside: that long list of “should”s can be a tool you use against yourself. I want to be cautious that I do things because I want to, or because in order to do the things I want to do, I need to do certain things first. Otherwise, the “should”s could result in me ceasing to write entirely if I become overwhelmed by the mountain of them.
Ultimately, this week, I wanted to focus on the good. I want to look forward to what I can do this year. However, I want to acknowledge the balance that exists between the glimmers and the darkness. Threading that needle is hard, but not impossible.
What are your New Year “Should”s? Are there any that I can make easier for you?
What about your glimmers? I want to know what brought you lightness this week.
All my best,
Zoe
P.S. Now that we are on Substack, there are a couple of new features I wanted to share with you. (1) You can like and comment on my notes! (2) All of my archived posts can now be found here, and (3) I am playing around with moving from Discord to Substack and adding some bonus content.
You just read issue #32 of Femme Futures. You can also browse the full archives of this newsletter.