Loved Tiff’s piece and really loved this. “Chasing a ghost” for sure. When I first went freelance, I found myself feeling oddly nostalgic for my old London commute I thought I hated (and I did definitely hate it). But there was something about the routine, the sunny-day iced coffee, taking the longer walk. Sitting alone at my desk for hours, I missed that. And then more recently, there’s been a sense of “missing something” again too. Each day feels like moving through molasses. It’s an odd time. I think we will all look back at the decade from 2020 to 2030 and feel it was a liminal space of sorts. An in-between from the way the world was before, and whatever it’s becoming next.
Wow. Once again Antonia you have articulated exactly what I am picking up from my clients, from the field more widely and from myself. This shakiness, this thinness, this fear - when I look at it more closely, it feels insubstantial too. It’s a story we are telling ourselves that hurts us. Here’s to connecting more deeply, to finding the roots under the soil that anchor us to who we are and who we will be in the future 💕🌱
Beautifully written and thought provoking as always :) I feel that 'work' has changed, and also the other day, I realised that the background 'optimism' of life has shifted too. Bare with me. Of course I was full of privilege to have it in the first place, but growing up I remember feeling reassured that a third world war would never happen. That, on the whole, there would be more opportunities for me as an adult than my own parents ever had. That things were, on the whole, moving in the right direction. That our leaders were honest and democratic. Basically just that things were going to be ok. I'm reading 'Humankind' at the moment (have you read it?) and hoping that by the end I'll be back to optimistic again. But I was thinking about how the broad background anxiety about where the world is heading is actually very heavy. For a lot of us. It's insidious. And it's been going on a while. Do you know what I mean? I am waffling and thinking aloud, something I'd only do to you on here, haha x
With you completely, Nelly, again from my position of privilege. Yesterday I woke up thinking about how total the devastation in Gaza has been, how so many lives have been reduced to rubble and dust, this morning I woke up to read about the US' war plans ...this is the world we're leaving our children. Then we get to our desks to try to figure out a way to keep going, to somehow rebuild it. Sending you love, my friend xo
Oo yes I feel that ennui too. I'm not pining for my corporate life - there were many reasons I left it - and i'm still breaking free from some of that corporate conditioning that is deeply rooted in me. Yet, in creating a business that works for me, the blurring between work and life does complicate things and probably adds to the feeling.
Oooh Lee! That's the word! Ennui...and I know how much goes into the unlearning...It took me years to detach from billable hours when I started my own business, to know that not everything is tied to that. So maybe there is an element of burnout too...like you say, we become our businesses and it's so hard to separate work and life💙
Loved Tiff’s piece and really loved this. “Chasing a ghost” for sure. When I first went freelance, I found myself feeling oddly nostalgic for my old London commute I thought I hated (and I did definitely hate it). But there was something about the routine, the sunny-day iced coffee, taking the longer walk. Sitting alone at my desk for hours, I missed that. And then more recently, there’s been a sense of “missing something” again too. Each day feels like moving through molasses. It’s an odd time. I think we will all look back at the decade from 2020 to 2030 and feel it was a liminal space of sorts. An in-between from the way the world was before, and whatever it’s becoming next.
Wow. Once again Antonia you have articulated exactly what I am picking up from my clients, from the field more widely and from myself. This shakiness, this thinness, this fear - when I look at it more closely, it feels insubstantial too. It’s a story we are telling ourselves that hurts us. Here’s to connecting more deeply, to finding the roots under the soil that anchor us to who we are and who we will be in the future 💕🌱
Abbi, thank you for this. It was good to have that check in and see that this too is something we can switch up the narrative on. Grateful to you!
Beautifully written and thought provoking as always :) I feel that 'work' has changed, and also the other day, I realised that the background 'optimism' of life has shifted too. Bare with me. Of course I was full of privilege to have it in the first place, but growing up I remember feeling reassured that a third world war would never happen. That, on the whole, there would be more opportunities for me as an adult than my own parents ever had. That things were, on the whole, moving in the right direction. That our leaders were honest and democratic. Basically just that things were going to be ok. I'm reading 'Humankind' at the moment (have you read it?) and hoping that by the end I'll be back to optimistic again. But I was thinking about how the broad background anxiety about where the world is heading is actually very heavy. For a lot of us. It's insidious. And it's been going on a while. Do you know what I mean? I am waffling and thinking aloud, something I'd only do to you on here, haha x
With you completely, Nelly, again from my position of privilege. Yesterday I woke up thinking about how total the devastation in Gaza has been, how so many lives have been reduced to rubble and dust, this morning I woke up to read about the US' war plans ...this is the world we're leaving our children. Then we get to our desks to try to figure out a way to keep going, to somehow rebuild it. Sending you love, my friend xo
Oo yes I feel that ennui too. I'm not pining for my corporate life - there were many reasons I left it - and i'm still breaking free from some of that corporate conditioning that is deeply rooted in me. Yet, in creating a business that works for me, the blurring between work and life does complicate things and probably adds to the feeling.
Oooh Lee! That's the word! Ennui...and I know how much goes into the unlearning...It took me years to detach from billable hours when I started my own business, to know that not everything is tied to that. So maybe there is an element of burnout too...like you say, we become our businesses and it's so hard to separate work and life💙