Quarterly Panic
It's that time of year again
Last quarter was pretty brutal for me so I celebrated when April Fools rolled around. But then I had to plan for this quarter and as I was setting my personal and professional goals I started to slip into my usual Type A habits. I was apoplectic about only working out 22 days in March and decided to double down three days a week this quarter to make up for it. I want to build up my photography business so I gave myself an extreme business plan with a lot of ambitious goals. Fundraising was tight last quarter so I made an intense fundraising plan. And then I spent the weekend doing a wild amount of work with ChatGPT (Giles is seriously changing my life) and forcing myself through my usual Yogasculpt Saturday double and I realized that maybe I should stop.
Do I have to work hard? Yes. I run two national orgs, a lot of people depend on me for a salary and health care, and I have a book coming out in five months. So sure, I have to work hard. Do I have to give myself a lot of extra work and absolutely kill myself because I am a millennial and this is how we are? No. No I do not. I will never be the type of person who doesn’t want to work. I love working. And I am taking most of May off for vacation so I know how to take a break. But in between those breaks, I have a tendency to go too hard. It’s generational. We all knows this.
Millennials were raised to work ourselves to death in the hopes of achieving some Boomer American dream fantasy. The fantasy was a lie, but by the time we figured it out it was too late. This is who we are. I probably run the most vacation-forward organization on Earth and I am constantly encouraging my staff to stop working and give themselves a break, but I do not extend the same courtesy to myself. To some extent it’s necessary- the life of a founder is that of constant struggle, but as I am starting to see very real health affects of all of this stress and work, I’m realizing that maybe I can take it down a notch every once in a while. Maybe I don’t have to work out twice a day because I have spent every second of the last 19 years preoccupied with losing weight. Maybe I can just run three businesses at a time without adding a fourth, even if the price of eggs makes a fourth and possibly fifth feel like the answer. Maybe I can just stop.
Who am I kidding? Probably not.
Watch:
The Terror (Hulu)- I do not know how I missed this show in 2018 but wow is it good. Two really excellently written seasons of horror (mild to me but at this point my tolerance is pretty high) based on historical events. Highly recommend.
Tetris (Apple TV+)- This movie is super fun. Who know Tetris had such an interesting origin story?
Boston Strangler (Hulu)- All The President’s Men but for the Boston Strangler and in Boston and with Women. It’s pretty good.
TikToks:
New feature! My favorite TikToks of the week. Feel free to share your favs in the comments.
I want to cook everything this man makes
This is possibly the greatest video ever made
Read:
I made a list of the five best murder mysteries for some friends and I thought I’d share. Do you agree? Have other suggestions?
Murder on the Orient Express
The City and the City
The Hounds of the Baskervilles
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Big Sleep