Author Archives: Shannon

A couple of weeks after the holidays, and after my sixteen-year employment at Big-Ass Consulting came to a surprisingly abrupt—but not unwelcome—end, I attended the retirement party of one of my oldest work buddies.  Enjoying the company of the office OGs (one of whom I had become), I traded holiday chatter with my friends.  “How was yourContinue reading “Not doing nothing”

We are stress junkies.  We’re doing something.  It must be done.  If we’re stressed, we’re important. Stress reminds us we’re alive.  Adrenaline makes us feel something.  We’ve built up tolerance, We get antsy when it withdraws.  Who are we if not fixing someone’s problem?  Especially the world’s problems?  Who are we if we’re not work?Continue reading “Junkies”

(This is substantially longer than my usual entry, so I have sprinkled it with more than the usual number of pictures, for your viewing enjoyment.) You don’t have to find your purpose at your Job, or even in Work.  It’s one option; still, there’s a lot more to being human than Work, and you might find more meaning elsewhereContinue reading “Purpose schmurpose”

My book club met this weekend to discuss Celeste Headlee’s Do Nothing:  How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving.  Great book.  As you can imagine, I recommend it, and I’m on the same page with her almost completely.  Where I think she doesn’t go far enough is (not unexpectedly) in buying into the concept of work-life balance, soContinue reading “Lower your standards”

When I started thinking differently about the place of work in my life, in spring 2020 – not quite the “before time,” but before we realized how much the coronavirus would affect us, or for how long – there was obviously a lot of ink spilled on the subject of work, and of (so-called) “work-lifeContinue reading “Catching up”

I got this acknowledgment from my sister, when she read the first few entries of my blog: I feel I do more work as a “part time” consultant and a “full time” wife and mom than I ever did as a full time Marine (which is by the way a 24-7-365 job). My sister CanContinue reading “Motherhood, housework, caregiving”

If you want to gain Work – Not-Work balance, the first step is learning to see all the work you do as Work.  Our economy and our cultures frequently stand in the way of this.  In these times, most people labor for money at jobs.  Society excels at rewarding high salaries and the effort that leads to them.  Work harder,Continue reading “Invisible Work”

My wheels ground to a halt just a couple of weeks before the world did, in the early months of 2020.  Before the novel coronavirus was making its stealthy appearance in the United States, I was reeling with anxiety and exhaustion.  I was burned out.  I was depressed.  I felt isolated at work and at home.  My memory was blinkingContinue reading “How I got here”