Well hello there!

It’s Christmas party season! Or Holiday Party or general End of Year Festivities. Whatever the case may be, like I said last week, December is a wildly different month when it comes to work expectations.

Happy December!

We made it to the last month of the year!

December is a good month in the corporate world. It is a month for slowing down and finally getting to those projects that you’ve been meaning to get to all year. I am willing to bet that a decent chunk of your team is out for at least 3 weeks of this month, so your email is going to slow down. Plus, it is widely accepted that December is the Friday of the year. So, what will you do with your breathing room? Maybe we can do a little bit of brainstorming on Discord. However, I have one suggestion: professional development.

Howdy!

It is nearing the end of November and guess what? I totally failed. I’ve meditated maybe four times this month and probably journaled about that much. I did buy a new journal and considered splurging on the paid version of Headspace. Hey, I tried.

Thankfully, I am through the work stressors that this month had in store for me, and despite not actively meditating or journaling a ton, I am actually ok with how I have been navigating this stress.

Hey, hi, hello —

So I can accept that I don’t love all of my present circumstances. Mainly the political ones. I would love to see a woman elected in my lifetime but so far I have watched two brilliant women lose out to a felon and a rapist. Yea — I don’t love where things are politically.

Remember how I was telling you all a couple of weeks back that I exemplify several personality types that veer towards fighting?

Hi there,

This has been a hard week. I really have nothing good to add to the cacophony of reaction to the US election.

I am shocked (I shouldn’t be.). I am anxious. I want to run away. I want to fight.

Hi there!

I have been so scattered lately. I have big project deadlines at work and am still learning the ropes at my new job. So, in an effort to come back down to earth and remember that I am both a brain AND a body, I am challenging myself to expand my mindfulness practice.

Hiya!

As many of you know, I am my friends’ go-to astrology girl. I am the one that gets asked if you and your crush are compatible or if Mercury is in retrograde again. If I ever ask you for your birthday, know that it’s not just for my type-a calendaring tendencies. My fascination doesn’t stop with astrology, though. I love the idea of being able to pin down “types” of people. I was totally obsessed with the “tag yourself” memes in high school and still think about my aesthetic genre on a daily basis.

Me? I am an Aries sun, Aries moon, Taurus rising, INFJ, and an Enneagram 8.

Hey there,

Here goes attempt three to start this note.

I want to talk about how sometimes I let myself down. I was sick this week and navigating life stuff (good and bad), and my energy has been all over the place. All that being said, I have not been the ambitious, confident, energetic, thoughtful, proactive version of myself at work this week.

Hey!

I have decided to embrace my Eyore tendencies and bum everyone out this week. I know that’s why you are all here, despair and despondency.

I am writing a note that I need to read, but I am betting that I am not the only one. It centers around the following ideas:

Hey guys,

I have found it really hard to focus this week. Last Friday, a massive storm devastated the western part of North Carolina. While I was not personally impacted, so many families lost everything. It is hard to even comprehend.

Talking about productivity and work-life-balance feels… not right to me at the moment. Instead, I want to share some thoughts on disaster giving, links to charitable organizations, and some memes that made me smile, and I hope might make you smile as well.

Hi there!

Once, in college, I was on a date and, as is often the case on first dates, the person sitting across from me made a comment about hating small talk. (I am so not going to go into how the topic of hating small talk is itself small talk.)

I responded to her that I personally like small talk. I like those casual touch-points of conversation with acquaintances. I think that small talk is the bridge from strangers to friends. However, small talk is universally hated, so I thought it could be interesting for me to share some of my thoughts on the subject.

Hi there!

I had to explain to my boyfriend the other day what “that girl” means. Clearly, I’m chronically online.

Occasionally though, I try to embody my “that girl” energy and journal while I sit at my favorite local bakery with my coffee. This week, I want to talk about my thoughts on journaling and share some journaling inspiration for your weekend.

Hello!

I have a funny story to share to kick off this week’s note:

During my final week at my last job, my old boss attended a couple of formal meetings. One meeting was with various university leaders, her bosses, and the other was one where she herself was a leader. As an icebreaker in both meetings, they went around the rooms and asked everyone what they wanted to be when they grew up. It sounds like most of the answers were fairly tame like a firefighter or an astronaut. My boss though? She proudly proclaimed to both rooms that day that when she was little, she had wanted to be a hooker. This was funny because she, of course, had no idea what a hooker was. How it came to be that she wanted to be something she did not understand, I am still unsure.

Hi guys!

Exciting news! I just finished my first week in a brand new job. I am beyond excited to be switching from my previous role to this one for so many reasons. Mostly though, I am thrilled to be growing and advancing in my career. However, to start a new job, you have to leave your current job.

In this week’s note, I want to share some best practices for leaving your job. Wildly enough, our media has painted a truly fictional notion of quitting. I beg of you, do not shout at your boss or list all of the shitty things they did. This is not The Office.

Hi guys,

There are 168 hours in a week. If you are sleeping a healthy amount, that’s about 56 hours accounted for. Then you have a 40-hour work week. We are up to 96 hours accounted for. That’s 72 hours left over for you to get a life.

This is a tough love newsletter that is rife with assumptions based on my personal experience, but at the end of which I am hoping you take a second to reflect on how you are spending your 168 hours a week.

Hi there!

It’s been a couple of months of the Cooperative and I think it might be good to come back to what this is all for.

I created the Femme Futures Cooperative because, throughout our education and in our media, we are told that we need to be leaders, take initiative, and make changes. A lot of us got good at that too, whether we were student leaders in high school, entrepreneurs whilst in college, or dutiful interns during our summers. And then we got to our first job — an entry-level role — and learned that it’s to our detriment to give 120%. You must remember that “children should be seen and not heard”.

Hey!

I was interviewing for a job a couple of weeks ago and in our initial small talk, my interviewer complimented my outfit. We ended up talking about how “work clothes” can sometimes act as armor. With that in mind, I wanted to talk about the power of getting dressed for work (or not).

Howdy!

I am going to be totally honest. Work has been incredibly emotionally taxing for me lately. I considered skipping newsletter writing this week and taking a bit of a mental health break, but couldn’t discern the difference between a mental health break and allowing myself to stew in the yuck. So I am compromising.

I want to give y’all some book recommendations for these final dog days of summer. Here in North Carolina, we are getting some wet weather, which is perfect for reading (and less perfect for stewing in the yuck).

Hey friends!

My sister just got a puppy (pictures at the end of the note) and this puppy has two modes: play and sleep. Play has always been important in my household. However, over the course of my life, I have found that I go through phases of intense devotion to work or skills that take me away from play. This week I want to talk about play as adults.

Hi there!

I am between calling this week’s note either “Glimmers” or “Drowning? Pt. 2”. I suppose that by the point you are reading this, that decision has been made.

Glimmer: /ˈɡlɪm.ɚ/ a moment in your day that brings a little bit of joy to you, particularly when your daily experience is a little more gloomy.