#133 – How Your Stories Change (and Cultures Shift)
Our changing collective story around rest
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but rest is in the zeitgeist. You can smell its hazy notes of lavender in the ether. Do you feel it? Have you noticed it in your own world? Rest no longer feels like the taboo topic it once was. I’ve written about rest in the newsletter before and in the short time since, views seem to have shifted ever so slightly. Culture seems to be shifting.
I have a friend who works high up at a bank. They’re quite traditional in their views and path through life. And yet, after years of collecting accolades, success, and promotions, they reached out to tell me that they were tired. They were on vacation and all they wanted to do was sleep. They needed rest. They acknowledged that maybe they needed to slow down for awhile. What slow down will mean or look like for them is to be seen, if they’re even able to. But they are one of so many I’ve talked to recently who are feeling similarly: child of immigrants, have worked nonstop throughout their life and now have hit a wall.
People are tired—a year out we’re still recovering from the mental and emotional impacts of pandemic lockdowns. More and more of us are burnt out, which means more of us have begun to recognize the need for rest. The thing is, the hardest lesson I learned in my burnout journey was that while essential, rest is just the beginning. It take years (yes, you read that right, years) to heal from burnout and the effects of stress on your mind and body. So as a culture and collective, at least where I am in North America, we’ve begun a journey—the classic start of a story.
But this shift, this trend, whatever it is, speaks to a larger idea. It points to the fact that even at the cultural level and in places we never expected it, stories change. They evolve as we gain new experience (like the trauma of a global pandemic in the midst of late-stage capitalism) and insights. I don’t want to overstate the reality of things because there are still committed traditionalists who believe we should work hard, grind, and die clutching our employee of the month plaques at our desks. But more people than ever are now eyeing the Spanish siesta and European holiday schedule and wondering what would need to change to have that in their lives. More studies and trials are being done and showing the value of a rested mind and body; and the benefits of a four-day work week.
Change—the evolution of our collective North American story around rest takes time. But it is happening. I see it first hand in my role as the co-founder of an organization focused on re-imagining work at the individual level (join the Re-Work community here!). It also comes to life in small ways like the shift in response to my Friday out of office message (image below). It used to be wistful admiration, now it’s empowered celebration and adoption—clients and colleagues saying, “I’m going to do that,” and actually trying it.
My ooo:
Changing a cultural story one like the myth of hard work as self worth is hard (especially one tied to a deeply ingrained norm around work) but not impossible. As the collective tunes in to the need for and value of rest, we are seeing shifts and shifts lead to new perspectives, which can lead to change.
I guess what I’m saying is that stories can change and those changes start with small shifts. Your brand is not fixed, your career is not fixed, your life is not fixed. If something as seemingly fixed as our views around rest in North America can shift so too can our stories.
Curious. What role does rest play in your life? How has your perception of and engagement with it changed over the past year? What do you do to rest?
A Story Well Told - Re-Work
My passion project, Re-Work, has an upcoming workshop on rest. I’m so excited about the experience we’ve created for participants. Unfortunately it sold out among our community members pretty quickly but you are always invited to join the community if rest and rethinking work and making shifts is something you’ve been exploring. With Re-Work you get to do it with the support and power of community. We also have an upcoming Re-Imagining Work workshop in partnership with Filling the Gap—it’s a chance to move through our entire Re-Work equation in an evening workshop. The best way to keep up to speed on all we share about re-work and finding ways to develop a more sustainable and fulfilling relationship with work is to join the community.
A Story Well Told Disclaimer: You’ll notice I’ve never featured Succession here. I hear good things. Literally weekly and in most of my group chats. But I just couldn’t get into it (rich people being awful is just not my cup of tea). So with no personal experience of my own but in acknowledgement of the collective will. Sigh. Succession. A story apparently well told.