"The Rollercoaster We Don’t See at Work"
I came back from holiday once to find an email from my boss, a long list of issues that had cropped up while I was away. They’d sent it just before heading off on their own break. Which meant I had a few days to sit with it before we could talk. Those days were hard. My stress levels spiked. I started to feel like a failure. And it wasn’t just about the work, I found myself questioning my own worth in general. All from a single email. That’s the rollercoaster of work life. A message that feels routine to the sender can set off days of self-doubt for the receiver. Words don’t just land in the moment, they linger, they echo. And here’s the tricky part: we can’t always predict how feedback will land. For one person, it’s a nudge. For another, it’s a punch in the gut. Human agency makes the outcome unknowable. So what can we do? We can slow down and remember that what feels small to us might feel enormous to someone else. That pause alone is an act of care. Until next time, ✉️ Enjoying The Messy Middle? If someone sent this email your way and you’d like to get it direct, you can sign up here. |