I love this Louise. I'm currently on mat leave and I still find myself at the end of the day trying to assess how "productive" I've been. It's just ingrained into me from 15 years of being in the corporate world. As if it's not enough keeping an 8 week old alive (and her 2 year old brother as well) and managing to feed us all and brush my teeth. Why does our measures of success equate to how busy we are or the deadlines we hit. My husband actually said to me "why don't you measure it by looking at the love you gave today", which is an altogether different way of looking at it. He can be annoyingly wise.
My dad died at 55 (17 years ago when we had landlines, I should add to set the picture) and when I rang his office line three days later to hear his voice I got someone on the phone who apologised and said he’d taken over dad’s desk. I feel like that should have been a salutary lesson but here we are and I think only now, having worked myself to the point where I also took a year off from writing to rebalance my brain, am I getting it.
I believe that this is so important and increasingly more so. Conversations with my friends highlight how we all feel 'wrung out' by the end of the day, with nothing left to give, but we almost always find that little extra energy for our loved ones. If we are not exhausted at the end of our work day, we feel guilty for skiving. This is pure madness!! work productivity is not, and should not, be the only thing that defines our worth or value. At the end of a work day/week, we should still have plenty of energy and time left to pursue our interests and do a lot of living and loving. I'm doing my best to find balance, but it's not easy!!! Thanks for such an interesting read Louise.
Oh, man. The number of times I realise I am berating myself for being lazy and unproductive and inefficient and a terrible human being before realising IT'S SUNDAY. Thank you for writing this. XXX
Bring told I was lazy as a kid has contributed to me working myself like crazy and litch struggling to enjoy a bloody day off. I'd never ever say this to my kids
I love this Louise. I'm currently on mat leave and I still find myself at the end of the day trying to assess how "productive" I've been. It's just ingrained into me from 15 years of being in the corporate world. As if it's not enough keeping an 8 week old alive (and her 2 year old brother as well) and managing to feed us all and brush my teeth. Why does our measures of success equate to how busy we are or the deadlines we hit. My husband actually said to me "why don't you measure it by looking at the love you gave today", which is an altogether different way of looking at it. He can be annoyingly wise.
I love your husband!! What a gorgeous (and entirely correct!) thing to say
My dad died at 55 (17 years ago when we had landlines, I should add to set the picture) and when I rang his office line three days later to hear his voice I got someone on the phone who apologised and said he’d taken over dad’s desk. I feel like that should have been a salutary lesson but here we are and I think only now, having worked myself to the point where I also took a year off from writing to rebalance my brain, am I getting it.
God, this is so sad. I’m sorry x
I believe that this is so important and increasingly more so. Conversations with my friends highlight how we all feel 'wrung out' by the end of the day, with nothing left to give, but we almost always find that little extra energy for our loved ones. If we are not exhausted at the end of our work day, we feel guilty for skiving. This is pure madness!! work productivity is not, and should not, be the only thing that defines our worth or value. At the end of a work day/week, we should still have plenty of energy and time left to pursue our interests and do a lot of living and loving. I'm doing my best to find balance, but it's not easy!!! Thanks for such an interesting read Louise.
Thanks so much for reading and commenting, Ann. I really appreciate it 🫶
Oh, man. The number of times I realise I am berating myself for being lazy and unproductive and inefficient and a terrible human being before realising IT'S SUNDAY. Thank you for writing this. XXX
Thanks Daisy 🥰🥰🥰
Bring told I was lazy as a kid has contributed to me working myself like crazy and litch struggling to enjoy a bloody day off. I'd never ever say this to my kids
Well, I was basically subtweeting you with this so PAY ATTENTION
Ahahhaha I actually was going to comment that and then was like... No Soph you could not sound more self obsessed 😂
😂😂