A Love Letter for the Work-Weary

Today’s edition of Wishful Working is a 4 minute read.

I don’t know about you, but the last few weeks have felt a lot like the first few weeks of the Covid outbreak in March 2020. There’s a torrential deluge of new bad news every single day, and I find it very difficult (impossible) to find a balance between staying informed and doom scrolling. Things feel uncertain, unstable, and generally not good. 

When these feelings hit, my relationship with work gets a little more complicated and a little more toxic. I swing back and forth between “thank god I have work to distract me from this anxiety” and “how the hell am I supposed to get anything done when I feel like this?” — with an undercurrent of “in light of current events, my work feels pointless.”

Seeing as tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, I thought I would write today’s newsletter for anyone who is feeling like me right now: uncertain and unstable with a side of burnout and existential dread. 

Welcome to the club. It sucks to be here.

Here’s what I’ll say to you:

You’re not alone

A lot of people are feeling the same way, even if they aren’t saying it. Although we’ve come a long way in terms of mental health stigma, there is still a lot of posturing and professionalism in the corporate world that prevents people from being transparent about how they’re feeling. Add in the layers of political pussyfooting, and you’ve got a whole bunch of people pretending everything’s fine when it’s anything but.

Let me say it again: You’re not alone. We’re in this together.

You’re not a machine

You’re a human being. When you’re not feeling well, whether it’s physical illness, mental health struggles, or any other brand of unwellness, you need time and space to heal and take care of yourself. Unfortunately, many of us lack sufficient PTO or sick days to truly do this, and we’ve been trained from an early age to suck it up and stuff it down. (Remember perfect attendance awards in elementary school? That was kinda messed up, right?)

Unfortunately, it’s hard to get the rest you need when you have to work to make a living and you don’t fully control your own schedule. But snag those afternoon naps and snack breaks whenever you can, and don’t you dare feel guilty for it.

It’s not you, it’s capitalism

In our capitalist culture, we’re taught that our value as a person is directly tied to our productivity and output. 

That is so fcked up.

Hear this: If you never produced a single deliverable or did a single task for the rest of your life, you’d be worth having around, and you would deserve rest and wellness.

Your purpose in life is not to be a cog in a machine, grinding away just to stay afloat while billionaire oligarchs lie, cheat, and steal to increase their already obscene wealth.

I hope you take care of yourself today and every day. Please reach out if you need a rant. And Happy Valentine’s Day from my hurting heart to yours ❤️‍🩹

See you next week,

Kara

Kara Detwiller is a writer based in small-town Saskatchewan. She specializes in long-form content writing for enterprise SaaS, cybersecurity, and manufacturing clients. She is also working on her first novel, among other creative pursuits. To connect, reply to this email or find Kara on LinkedIn or Bluesky. To support her work on Wishful Working, share this email with someone or buy her a “coffee.”

Why Wishful Working? I write this newsletter because I want to see more people enjoy a life not centered around work. For some, the path to freedom and flexibility is through self-employment, but we also need to challenge cultural norms and champion healthier working conditions and work/life balance for all types of workers.