Over the past few months, I have been making a tremendous effort to power through the slew of emotions that I’m sure everyone is feeling in varying degrees to make sure I can continue to pay for my lifestyle. I was incredibly lucky to not be laid off in the initial economic shock. Before I even go any further I am extraordinarily privileged to even be able to consider taking time off let alone doing it. With that said, I wanted to write about why it was so important for me to take this time now not just to share my story but also as a retrospective for me. I’ve been feeling ambivalent (read terrified), but writing it out helps me affirm my decision.
Zoom Zoom Zoom Make My Heart Go WTF
This is where my problem lies. I understand management wanting to see everyone during an internal meeting and get to make virtual eye contact, but demanding people turn their cameras on is incredibly uncomfortable and extremely invasive.
Slack(ing) Intelligence
Slack has become a large way companies interact internally. It’s a quick and easy way to confirm or even set up meetings, exchange information, connect with folks across time and distance. There are endless ways why Slack is vital to organization and a total stress reliever. Being able to chat with a friend in another office or someone right next to you without picking up a phone and literally expressing yourself through gifs or emojis is sometimes tantamount to an after-work rage sesh. It’s great. However, I’ve been noticing there are some things about how emojis are used in a group chat setting that have come to make me… pause. So without any prompting whatsoever, I’m going to break-down what I think are important pieces of etiquette to be mindful of when you are apart of that large Slack channel with different types of people or direct messaging your homies.
Amiwrite?!
Sitting in the office before work pushing myself to write something, because I’ve been so horrible with being consistent. And it’s not like this reality is anything new, on the contrary, it’s been something I’ve been battling for years. It’s this thing I like to call “the inability to consistently write about pretty much anything for my Tumblr blog or… ya know insert public writing avenue.” Musing here, I wonder what it is that keeps me from into exercising the one thing that has continuously brought me peace of mind at times and enraged me the next. It’s something that constantly stirs up emotions in me be it good or bad, but it’s something I turn to no matter how I’m feeling. Unless it’s lazy, then all bets are off. However, I find myself barely mustering enough energy to write anything to share on the internet, but then I remember, WTF cares?!
My terror behind sharing my thoughts on the internet stems from the numerous trolls that live in the bowls of user comments and reddit. It dwells in the fingertips of a-holes and cowards. Though, it also lurks in my own mind, tucked away in the bed of insecurity that has burrowed so deep within in me I sometimes forget its existence and blame my lethargy on the weather.
Well, I’m tired of making these empty grandiose claims of being more consistent and writing more, because my words mean nothing. Action. Action is everything. I’m slowly figuring out that is the case across all aspects of my life and it’s the simplest yet the hardest concept to grasp. I do a lot of talk. I’m even good at convincing myself that my words are true, which makes it very difficult to improve since I keep telling myself I already have. So, no more being annoyingly untruthful and saying things that ultimately mean nothing because I need to be more impeccable with my words and more actionable with my life. Ha. We’ll see, right?
Right.
Sigh.
TGIF...
Means absolutely nothing when you work in the service industry. So, all of you celebrating today like it’s the best day of the week (and most likely humming that awful Rebecca Black song because lord knows no one will EVER forget it’s creepy, inescapable evil melody), let it be known: things go on weekday nights you will never understand. Dun dun dunnnn. I do enjoy a good friday though. No, not Good Friday. I’m not religious.