Thursday Murmurings
Burnout, reiki and owning your badassery
Ahoy there! Kicking it off this week with a shout out to Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of F. Scott. I found out, while digging around a random internet rabbit hole, that for The Great Gatsby, her husband lifted lines from her diary, word for word. Nice of him to call her his muse n’ all, but probably pretty annoying to see someone else (or you know, especially your husband) claiming credit for your work. So big ups to you, Zelda! May your work forever be given the acknowledgement it deserves.
This series by Bustle, interviewing women about where they were in their lives when they were 28 is pretty interesting. In this Kim Fields interview, when asked what advice she’d give her 28 year old self really stood out:
“Get comfortable sooner in your pursuit of being a badass and owning the concept of being a badass and all that it takes. Every part of me that is intelligent, that is strong, that is sensual or sexual. Everything about being grown and not giving a good f*cking goddamn sometimes — all of that is really OK.”
Hell frikkin’ YES! Embracing that is such a process, but I agree that the sooner you can get to it, the better life becomes.
The pandemic hit teens hard. Apparently 13-24 year olds have suffered most in terms of isolation. This New York Times article about how parents are navigating parenting their teens during these weird times is a good read. My hats off to the parents, always, because whew! As tough as it’s been managing our own reactions to this situation and the impact on our mental health, I can’t imagine having to help a teen get through it too.
Another effect of the pandemic has been that it has shone a light on areas of our lives that we may have been dissatisfied with. For many, this has led them to quit their job. I enjoyed this piece about this phenomenon, but specifically about the overuse of the term ‘burnout’. An important quote from this:
“Irvin Schonfeld, a former professor of psychology at the City College of New York, sees the proliferated use of burnout as a somewhat misleading way for workers to express dissatisfaction with a particular job. There are, in his view, many good reasons to quit: You’re overworked, you don’t get enough time with family, your boss is terrible, you want a break, or all of the above. None of these necessarily rises to the level of burnout, at least as traditionally defined. “I think it’s enough for someone to say, ‘I became dissatisfied with my job,’ ” says Schonfeld.”
I’m pro most articles that discuss ageing in a positive way, so this piece in Vogue about how 50 is definitely not the new 30 and that’s totally fine, was a good read.
I love this article about reiki. I’m an avid reiki fan. I used to go to a wonderful reiki healer in London and there are things I experienced in those sessions that I still can’t explain. It’s part comfort, part healing, part recalibration maybe - it’s very difficult to describe. But hearing that it’s being used more and more in traditional medical spaces as a complimentary therapy, I’d say, is a good step forward. I accepted right before my first reiki session that I don’t need to know how it works, I’ll just surrender to the process and for me, that attitude has served me well.
I currently have space for a couple of new life coaching clients. If you feel like you’re at a cross roads in your life, struggling with your confidence to move forward and make some changes, I have a deal on a three session package that will help you find your self-belief again and level up your life in some awesome ways. Check it out here and hit me up to book some sessions.
In Monday’s issue of The Murmuration, I’m talking about the non-drinker lifestyle and how more and more people are deciding to take a closer look at their relationship with alcohol and either cutting back considerably or quitting altogether. I had a chat with someone who, during the pandemic, went from the ultimate party girl to stone cold sober - trust me, it makes for a great read.
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Until next week, smile at strangers, spread good vibes, be nice to people.