Monday's Opening Thought: November 8, 2021

This week’s opening thought: your emotional, mental, and physical health matters more than any job or career, especially if being in that job or pursuing that career comes with toxic workplace cultures rife with misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and racism.

I know that it’s very privileged thinking to quit a job connected to your survival or take a step back in a career you’re pursuing that could derail your progress. I know it can even be privileged thinking to believe you have the right and option to find a job that speaks to your mind, body, and soul. I’ve worked positions that were all about survival, about keeping my head above water. I understand how elitist it sounds to say something like “you don’t have to take this” when we often feel we have no option but to “take this.” If you think any of the above when reading this, I want to validate and support you. Your thoughts and feelings are valid.

And that’s why your emotional, mental, and physical health matters more than any job or career.

You deserve more. You deserve better. Whether it’s a career aspiration or a job to keep your head above water, you deserve dignity and respect. We all do, regardless of or place in an organization’s hierarchy.

I know it’s daunting to embrace yourself and your mental, emotional, and physical health. I know it likely feels awkward to think differently about all of this after spending your lifetime indoctrinated in systems and workplace cultures, feeling like you have to accept abuse, that it’s part of the job. But it’s not. You matter. Embrace you.

No matter the job or career, you deserve more than just a paycheck and the abuses that “come with it.”