A shorter note than usual.
Not so much because there isn’t anything to say. But more because other things in life make saying less the best thing to do.
I’m dealing with some personal grief right now. Nothing I’m looking to unpack publicly right now, but deep and unexpected. It changes how my days feel at the moment - how long or short things take, whether I’m thinking clearly, or distracted, my energy for creativity.
Work culture - maybe especially in the tech industry - sometimes treats emotional disruption as a bit of an inconvenience. We’re all running around doing so much that we need to “manage around it”, or suck it up to keep our output uninterrupted.
We don’t have many systems that are built around taking a pause.
Grief isn’t a bug in a system though. It’s a natural human state, and it needs its own time. Just as we need time to be productive, we also need time to be reflective.
I’m taking a little bit of that time. I’m lucky that I work for a caring company that appreciates that need. And there’s still a bit of me that feels guilty, that I might be “letting the team down”.
Anyway, I made this week’s post deliberately short - and in part that’s supposed to be a reminder that it’s OK to slow down and tend to all parts of life, not just the deliverables!
If you’re reading this and carrying something heavy yourself - you don’t need to justify the weight of it. It doesn’t need to be turned into anything other than what it is. I hope that you have the space to stop, briefly, and have that pause be the most functional thing you can do.
Article cover image by mali desha on Unsplash