So much from this article resonates, but my comment will focus on the relationship with coworkers and bosses. I am loyal to a fault in the workplace and yet this last chapter of my working life before I retire has me questioning the fifth manager I report to in five years every day (there is much shifting in my place of work). I know she is a good person but our work values don't align and my loyalty is fading. I'm dealing with those feelings and I find it quite challenging. I like to lead by example but in the words of one of my past managers, "not everyone works the same, Holly."
Hi Holly, I’m really glad you found this essay relatable! That sounds really tough. I experienced that at my last job. I didn’t feel like my boss and I related much or really agreed on money vs. serving customers and doing what was best for our customers and partners.
Also 5 managers in 5 years sounds like a lot! Is there a lot going on at the company that’s caused so much turnover?
Thanks Colin. Unfortunately massive layoffs across the country and it's hitting harder in places over others. I get to break free from the corporate world very soon! I'll spend more time on Substack! :)
Five managers in five years would test anyone's loyalty. And I think there's an uncomfortable distinction between being loyal to the people you work with and feeling obliged to support every decision made above you.I've seen excellent employees carry entire teams through difficult periods while leadership changed around them. They're often the reason the place eeps functioning at all.but loyalty shouldn't require you to abandon your own judgment. Especially when you've spent years earning the experience that informs it.
I hope your final chaptr at work leaves you with more good memories than frustrating ones. You've certainly earned a quieter one!
I often find reading a difficult process, my mind feels like it takes time to read and takecit in, I can't skim like others do as I feel guilty and then need to start at thd beginning if I find my my wanders...yet this piece was easy to read, I was absorbed and enjoyed the concept...I worked in Corporate, it had taken me years to get there, only to find it not as I expected...it let me down in so many ways and ended my love of accountancy, you see accountancy to me was meeting teams, gathering real data, and ensuring a business was doing great, yet at a Corporate the people were not like the sme's [small medium sized enterprises]I had worked most of my accounting career, where everyone had a role to play, they showed up, they did their best thd accounts balanced and the audits confirmed their truth. The teams carried each other through tight deadlines, and thd culture within was professional, upbeat all steering jn the same direction, everyone had their role to play from the janitor to the Top Bosses.
However never did I feel like Corporate people, made me feel...never did I feel alone, deserted at times of need.
You see Corporate has no heart, no soul and lacks the cameraderie a SME can bring to your heart...
Talk about how many faces and has, I discovered I could not BE myself in those kind of spaces, all were like a breed that ran you dry...so When my contract expired I didn't want to re apply...no more and although it took me some time, I found myself again through art and refined my design skills by getting trained...my accounting is z skill I'll always have yet now I am an Artist and Designer being myself with other likeminded creatives I feel at peace with accepting me for who I am. CORPORATE was like my hero and I was disappointed when I realised if was fake and false and full of many characters that preferred to be lazy and hide behind their titles, use others to shield their failings and hurt them without a care, cos they somehow were given the power infact they had no power cos itherz above them were calling thd shots and had their minions in a grip of entrapment to say the least...I'm glad I had not stayed and glad to be free and be myself again.
So glad to hear that you really enjoyed the essay and found it easy to read!
I totally understand that feeling. It’s frustrating to be stuck in job where you feel like just a cog in a machine and your superiors don’t seem to care much! I definitely felt like that at my last job.
Glad to hear that things are going a bit better now and that you’ve been able to free yourself up from that feeling!
Your description of working in smaller businesses really struck me. Everyone knowing their role, pulling together when things got difficult, and actually caring whether the business succeeded.
I've worked in large organizations and smaller teams, and I don't think company size automatically determines the culture. But I do think something gets lost when people become too far removed from the consequences of their decisions.
It's rather sad that you spent years developing your accounting career only to have the environment make you fall out of love with it. I'm glad you found your way back to something that feels like yours. And at least the accounting skills are still there, should the art business ever need a particularly terrifying spreadsheet!
Jenny that's such a thoughtful response, I love spreadsheets, and still to this day.
The fact I learnt accounting with cashbooks, prime books of entry, and can resolve issues to balance a set of accounts from nothing, builflding up from what data is available and tracking down the relevant pieces was often like being a forensic investigator..my falling out of love for accounting probably was more a choice of business, timing and finding my kind of people again.
Accounting for one big business in manufacturing was the most liberating and I loved being part of the Accountancy team with many other key segments of a manufacturing business around, like the teams in Communication, Marketing, Sales, Raw materials, WIP, building different products, Human Resources, Research and Development, knowing the Cost of manufacturing one item, Bill of materials, Labour costs, Engineering, testing, Quality Control and how to define best selling prices. All these layers made Accountancy much more about being part of all the many parts and coming together as one...
It was the creation of all, the teams that gathered to achieve the ultimate goal of success in building a prestigious quality product, and noticing the wins🏆 along the way. From each and every person, from the cleaner to the promo team, to the sellers and the canteen staff...such a joy.
I think I am so happy in my art and design because I can now notice, I can see, how to make a thing in life come to fruition.
It takes an idea, a thought process to make it come to reality.
I now see this and do this daily in my own art production...
I did feel down for a long time during the transition, yet also due to some other things that happened in life itself, so to hear today your thoughts, I feel really pleased of my accomplishments in beginning anew...
It was OK to do such, as I was healing as I did it...and writing about my joys of accountancy helps me realise even if we can feel we are starting again, we actually already have more experiences from our life skills which always stay with us.. This enables us to be able to pivot and be adaptable, that's what I did, I adapted and helped myself to realise we can do the stuff needed to succeed.
...My success is keeping the love of my past, even in accountancy, still alive as I now nurture whst I am doing now.
I recognise those last two contracts I took on back then, were in a different realm, one segment of accountancy where the kind of people were different they weren't from my culture, my upbringing, the world was changing in that arena faster than the manufscturing arena, these characters weren't my kind of people.
it wasn't the accountancy itself I fell out of love with, it was a bad choice of business, Corporate itself..
l had also reached a time for growth and change, to do what I had yearned to do for years, and did as a hobby, keeping my art alive at least at the weekends.
I was sent the opportunity to do it, and I finally plucked up the courage to leap.
It has been and still is a wonderful stepping stone to being who I am..
Thank you for helping me understand my journey a bit better today...I'm grateful for how it is panning out.
We're always learning, no mistakes, no fails just learnings.
How's your changes in life , are they helping you revolve, adapt, and learn to evolve?
Jenny that's such a thoughtful response, I love spreadsheets, and still to this day.
The fact I learnt accounting with cashbooks, prime books of entry, and can resolve issues to balance a set of accounts from nothing, builflding up from what data is available and tracking down the relevant pieces was often like being a forensic investigator..my falling out of love for accounting probably was more a choice of business, timing and finding my kind of people again.
Accounting for one big business in manufacturing was the most liberating and I loved being part of the Accountancy team with many other key segments of a manufacturing business around, like the teams in Communication, Marketing, Sales, Raw materials, WIP, building different products, Human Resources, Research and Development, knowing the Cost of manufacturing one item, Bill of materials, Labour costs, Engineering, testing, Quality Control and how to define best selling prices. All these layers made Accountancy much more about being part of all the many parts and coming together as one...
It was the creation of all, the teams that gathered to achieve the ultimate goal of success in building a prestigious quality product, and noticing the wins🏆 along the way. From each and every person, from the cleaner to the promo team, to the sellers and the canteen staff...such a joy.
I think I am so happy in my art and design because I can now notice, I can see, how to make a thing in life come to fruition.
It takes an idea, a thought process to make it come to reality.
I now see this and do this daily in my own art production...
I did feel down for a long time during the transition, yet also due to some other things that happened in life itself, so to hear today your thoughts, I feel really pleased of my accomplishments in beginning anew...
It was OK to do such, as I was healing as I did it...and writing about my joys of accountancy helps me realise even if we can feel we are starting again, we actually already have more experiences from our life skills which always stay with us.. This enables us to be able to pivot and be adaptable, that's what I did, I adapted and helped myself to realise we can do the stuff needed to succeed.
...My success is keeping the love of my past, even in accountancy, still alive as I now nurture whst I am doing now.
I recognise those last two contracts I took on back then, were in a different realm, one segment of accountancy where the kind of people were different they weren't from my culture, my upbringing, the world was changing in that arena faster than the manufscturing arena, these characters weren't my kind of people.
it wasn't the accountancy itself I fell out of love with, it was a bad choice of business, Corporate itself..
l had also reached a time for growth and change, to do what I had yearned to do for years, and did as a hobby, keeping my art alive at least at the weekends.
I was sent the opportunity to do it, and I finally plucked up the courage to leap.
It has been and still is a wonderful stepping stone to being who I am..
Thank you for helping me understand my journey a bit better today...I'm grateful for how it is panning out.
We're always learning, no mistakes, no fails just learnings.
How's your changes in life , are they helping you revolve, adapt, and learn to evolve?
Oh, I love this. Especially the realization that you never really stopped loving accounting. You just stopped loving the environment you were doing it in.
And I had to smile at your description of manufacturing. The BOMs, the cost calculations, the different departments all trying to make something work together. That's exactly the sort of thing I can get ridiculously excited about too.zou've asked me a rather good question about my own changes. I think that deserves a proper conversation, so I'll send you a message.
The nuances that are real life... love the way you capture not just the black and white and grays, but all the colors in between. This is people. This is us. And like the Steinbeck quote, once we get over trying or expecting people to be perfect we can appreciate them (and ourselves) for who we are. And nice job weaving in the history and real life examples-great read as always!
Thanks so much for the kind words, @Susie Lonsberry ! Im really glad you liked the essay. It’s kind of funny… they say you should pick one person in your head to write for when you write an essay, and I was thinking “ I hope Susie likes this. I think this would be her kind of thing.” So I'm glad you did!
I really enjoyed this. It was a surprisingly engaging and easy to understand. (I agree with Tracy in a previous comment!) My husband grew up reading a whole lot about Civil War. I am an immigrant and know only the little bit that they make you read in public school. Reading your work is like hearing you talk over a cup of coffee. I could imagine my husband and you having a very long history conversation.
The topic itself is timely. I have been contemplating how often put ourselves on a pedestal and live in illusion that we are something greater than we. With same stroke we put those who we respect on pedestals and get so disappointing when they prove to be human.
Thanks so much! Intakes me so happy you liked it. Where are you from originally? And where are you now? I wish I knew more about it! I used to read SO much on it but I’ve forgotten a lot!
Yes, both are easy traps to fall into. I think it’s important to remind ourselves that we’re all just humans. And that’s both a very dignifying and very humbling position to be in.
I was born in Russia but my father grew up in Ukraine. It's tricky these days because I have family on both sides of the conflict and in the middle of it too. My parents immigrated to United States when I was in middle school. I am in CA.
aBSOLUTE LOL FOR being extraordinarily calm at work and then lying awake at 2 a.m. Not because it's funny, but because it describes me so well.I spent years in executive roles where everyone expected me to have an answer, preferably before they'd finished explaining the problem. And most days, I did. What they didn't see was how much uncertainty I carried home afterward.
I think that's where your distinction between authenticity and perfection matters. Being the same person everywhere doesn't mean behaving the same way everywhere. Sometimes leadership requires you to be the calmest person in a room when you're anything but calm.
What matters more to me is whether people can trust you when things get uncomfortable. I've worked with very charming leaders who disappeared the moment a difficult decision needed making. And rather difficult ones who would stand beside their people when everything went wrong.
I'll take the difficult one, thanks. Although preferably one who doesn't make me sit through another PowerPoint about company values.
Glad to hear I wasn’t the only one, Jenny! And I agree with you I’d rather have a difficult boss who was trustworthy than a smooth talking boss who couldn’t be trusted. Although it’s the worst when they are neither nice nor trustworthy haha.
Thanks for writing about this! Definitely interesting hearing about the multidimensional nature of the people in your story. But I also took it as how to show up better and more consistently for the people in my life, especially my kids.
This is so beautiful and relatable. Sometimes the best plans are the ones we let go of to notice the small wonders through our children's eyes. As a writer exploring inner peace and presence, I deeply resonate with this. Let's keep growing together.
Colin, your story about the boss you trusted despite disagreeing with him says so much. We often confuse authenticity with being likable, when trust is really about knowing someone will stand by their principles, even when it's inconvenient. Brands struggle with this too. It's easy to write beautiful values on a website; it's much harder to live up to them when nobody's watching. And your sister makes a great point: falling short of your values isn't the same as abandoning them.
Hi Lea, I’m glad you appreciated that story. That’s a good point… because actually this boss wasn’t always likeable. Sometimes he was a difficult guy. But in general I really liked and respected him, because he was very consistent and stood by his principles.
I agree about the branding angle too. There’s a lot of companies that really preach good values but it doesn’t aways align with what they’re doing behind the scenes.
Yeah, my sister has a lot of wisdom! I really appreciate her take on things!
So much from this article resonates, but my comment will focus on the relationship with coworkers and bosses. I am loyal to a fault in the workplace and yet this last chapter of my working life before I retire has me questioning the fifth manager I report to in five years every day (there is much shifting in my place of work). I know she is a good person but our work values don't align and my loyalty is fading. I'm dealing with those feelings and I find it quite challenging. I like to lead by example but in the words of one of my past managers, "not everyone works the same, Holly."
Hi Holly, I’m really glad you found this essay relatable! That sounds really tough. I experienced that at my last job. I didn’t feel like my boss and I related much or really agreed on money vs. serving customers and doing what was best for our customers and partners.
Also 5 managers in 5 years sounds like a lot! Is there a lot going on at the company that’s caused so much turnover?
Thanks Colin. Unfortunately massive layoffs across the country and it's hitting harder in places over others. I get to break free from the corporate world very soon! I'll spend more time on Substack! :)
I hear you. I was affected by one of those last year! That will be great when you can finally retire soon!
Five managers in five years would test anyone's loyalty. And I think there's an uncomfortable distinction between being loyal to the people you work with and feeling obliged to support every decision made above you.I've seen excellent employees carry entire teams through difficult periods while leadership changed around them. They're often the reason the place eeps functioning at all.but loyalty shouldn't require you to abandon your own judgment. Especially when you've spent years earning the experience that informs it.
I hope your final chaptr at work leaves you with more good memories than frustrating ones. You've certainly earned a quieter one!
Jenny - that is the message I didn't know I needed. Thank you for your kind words - they are very much appreciated. 34 business days to go! LOL
That's it?! Wow you weren't kidding you're close to retirement!
if you need cheering, just let me know. You got this!
I often find reading a difficult process, my mind feels like it takes time to read and takecit in, I can't skim like others do as I feel guilty and then need to start at thd beginning if I find my my wanders...yet this piece was easy to read, I was absorbed and enjoyed the concept...I worked in Corporate, it had taken me years to get there, only to find it not as I expected...it let me down in so many ways and ended my love of accountancy, you see accountancy to me was meeting teams, gathering real data, and ensuring a business was doing great, yet at a Corporate the people were not like the sme's [small medium sized enterprises]I had worked most of my accounting career, where everyone had a role to play, they showed up, they did their best thd accounts balanced and the audits confirmed their truth. The teams carried each other through tight deadlines, and thd culture within was professional, upbeat all steering jn the same direction, everyone had their role to play from the janitor to the Top Bosses.
However never did I feel like Corporate people, made me feel...never did I feel alone, deserted at times of need.
You see Corporate has no heart, no soul and lacks the cameraderie a SME can bring to your heart...
Talk about how many faces and has, I discovered I could not BE myself in those kind of spaces, all were like a breed that ran you dry...so When my contract expired I didn't want to re apply...no more and although it took me some time, I found myself again through art and refined my design skills by getting trained...my accounting is z skill I'll always have yet now I am an Artist and Designer being myself with other likeminded creatives I feel at peace with accepting me for who I am. CORPORATE was like my hero and I was disappointed when I realised if was fake and false and full of many characters that preferred to be lazy and hide behind their titles, use others to shield their failings and hurt them without a care, cos they somehow were given the power infact they had no power cos itherz above them were calling thd shots and had their minions in a grip of entrapment to say the least...I'm glad I had not stayed and glad to be free and be myself again.
So glad to hear that you really enjoyed the essay and found it easy to read!
I totally understand that feeling. It’s frustrating to be stuck in job where you feel like just a cog in a machine and your superiors don’t seem to care much! I definitely felt like that at my last job.
Glad to hear that things are going a bit better now and that you’ve been able to free yourself up from that feeling!
Thank you, I also responded to Jenny see below, its funny how we can reflect years later and realise it was a good thing...
Your description of working in smaller businesses really struck me. Everyone knowing their role, pulling together when things got difficult, and actually caring whether the business succeeded.
I've worked in large organizations and smaller teams, and I don't think company size automatically determines the culture. But I do think something gets lost when people become too far removed from the consequences of their decisions.
It's rather sad that you spent years developing your accounting career only to have the environment make you fall out of love with it. I'm glad you found your way back to something that feels like yours. And at least the accounting skills are still there, should the art business ever need a particularly terrifying spreadsheet!
Jenny that's such a thoughtful response, I love spreadsheets, and still to this day.
The fact I learnt accounting with cashbooks, prime books of entry, and can resolve issues to balance a set of accounts from nothing, builflding up from what data is available and tracking down the relevant pieces was often like being a forensic investigator..my falling out of love for accounting probably was more a choice of business, timing and finding my kind of people again.
Accounting for one big business in manufacturing was the most liberating and I loved being part of the Accountancy team with many other key segments of a manufacturing business around, like the teams in Communication, Marketing, Sales, Raw materials, WIP, building different products, Human Resources, Research and Development, knowing the Cost of manufacturing one item, Bill of materials, Labour costs, Engineering, testing, Quality Control and how to define best selling prices. All these layers made Accountancy much more about being part of all the many parts and coming together as one...
It was the creation of all, the teams that gathered to achieve the ultimate goal of success in building a prestigious quality product, and noticing the wins🏆 along the way. From each and every person, from the cleaner to the promo team, to the sellers and the canteen staff...such a joy.
I think I am so happy in my art and design because I can now notice, I can see, how to make a thing in life come to fruition.
It takes an idea, a thought process to make it come to reality.
I now see this and do this daily in my own art production...
I did feel down for a long time during the transition, yet also due to some other things that happened in life itself, so to hear today your thoughts, I feel really pleased of my accomplishments in beginning anew...
It was OK to do such, as I was healing as I did it...and writing about my joys of accountancy helps me realise even if we can feel we are starting again, we actually already have more experiences from our life skills which always stay with us.. This enables us to be able to pivot and be adaptable, that's what I did, I adapted and helped myself to realise we can do the stuff needed to succeed.
...My success is keeping the love of my past, even in accountancy, still alive as I now nurture whst I am doing now.
I recognise those last two contracts I took on back then, were in a different realm, one segment of accountancy where the kind of people were different they weren't from my culture, my upbringing, the world was changing in that arena faster than the manufscturing arena, these characters weren't my kind of people.
it wasn't the accountancy itself I fell out of love with, it was a bad choice of business, Corporate itself..
l had also reached a time for growth and change, to do what I had yearned to do for years, and did as a hobby, keeping my art alive at least at the weekends.
I was sent the opportunity to do it, and I finally plucked up the courage to leap.
It has been and still is a wonderful stepping stone to being who I am..
Thank you for helping me understand my journey a bit better today...I'm grateful for how it is panning out.
We're always learning, no mistakes, no fails just learnings.
How's your changes in life , are they helping you revolve, adapt, and learn to evolve?
Jenny that's such a thoughtful response, I love spreadsheets, and still to this day.
The fact I learnt accounting with cashbooks, prime books of entry, and can resolve issues to balance a set of accounts from nothing, builflding up from what data is available and tracking down the relevant pieces was often like being a forensic investigator..my falling out of love for accounting probably was more a choice of business, timing and finding my kind of people again.
Accounting for one big business in manufacturing was the most liberating and I loved being part of the Accountancy team with many other key segments of a manufacturing business around, like the teams in Communication, Marketing, Sales, Raw materials, WIP, building different products, Human Resources, Research and Development, knowing the Cost of manufacturing one item, Bill of materials, Labour costs, Engineering, testing, Quality Control and how to define best selling prices. All these layers made Accountancy much more about being part of all the many parts and coming together as one...
It was the creation of all, the teams that gathered to achieve the ultimate goal of success in building a prestigious quality product, and noticing the wins🏆 along the way. From each and every person, from the cleaner to the promo team, to the sellers and the canteen staff...such a joy.
I think I am so happy in my art and design because I can now notice, I can see, how to make a thing in life come to fruition.
It takes an idea, a thought process to make it come to reality.
I now see this and do this daily in my own art production...
I did feel down for a long time during the transition, yet also due to some other things that happened in life itself, so to hear today your thoughts, I feel really pleased of my accomplishments in beginning anew...
It was OK to do such, as I was healing as I did it...and writing about my joys of accountancy helps me realise even if we can feel we are starting again, we actually already have more experiences from our life skills which always stay with us.. This enables us to be able to pivot and be adaptable, that's what I did, I adapted and helped myself to realise we can do the stuff needed to succeed.
...My success is keeping the love of my past, even in accountancy, still alive as I now nurture whst I am doing now.
I recognise those last two contracts I took on back then, were in a different realm, one segment of accountancy where the kind of people were different they weren't from my culture, my upbringing, the world was changing in that arena faster than the manufscturing arena, these characters weren't my kind of people.
it wasn't the accountancy itself I fell out of love with, it was a bad choice of business, Corporate itself..
l had also reached a time for growth and change, to do what I had yearned to do for years, and did as a hobby, keeping my art alive at least at the weekends.
I was sent the opportunity to do it, and I finally plucked up the courage to leap.
It has been and still is a wonderful stepping stone to being who I am..
Thank you for helping me understand my journey a bit better today...I'm grateful for how it is panning out.
We're always learning, no mistakes, no fails just learnings.
How's your changes in life , are they helping you revolve, adapt, and learn to evolve?
Oh, I love this. Especially the realization that you never really stopped loving accounting. You just stopped loving the environment you were doing it in.
And I had to smile at your description of manufacturing. The BOMs, the cost calculations, the different departments all trying to make something work together. That's exactly the sort of thing I can get ridiculously excited about too.zou've asked me a rather good question about my own changes. I think that deserves a proper conversation, so I'll send you a message.
The nuances that are real life... love the way you capture not just the black and white and grays, but all the colors in between. This is people. This is us. And like the Steinbeck quote, once we get over trying or expecting people to be perfect we can appreciate them (and ourselves) for who we are. And nice job weaving in the history and real life examples-great read as always!
Thanks so much for the kind words, @Susie Lonsberry ! Im really glad you liked the essay. It’s kind of funny… they say you should pick one person in your head to write for when you write an essay, and I was thinking “ I hope Susie likes this. I think this would be her kind of thing.” So I'm glad you did!
Well thanks, friend! Looks like everybody wins :)
I really enjoyed this. It was a surprisingly engaging and easy to understand. (I agree with Tracy in a previous comment!) My husband grew up reading a whole lot about Civil War. I am an immigrant and know only the little bit that they make you read in public school. Reading your work is like hearing you talk over a cup of coffee. I could imagine my husband and you having a very long history conversation.
The topic itself is timely. I have been contemplating how often put ourselves on a pedestal and live in illusion that we are something greater than we. With same stroke we put those who we respect on pedestals and get so disappointing when they prove to be human.
Thanks so much! Intakes me so happy you liked it. Where are you from originally? And where are you now? I wish I knew more about it! I used to read SO much on it but I’ve forgotten a lot!
Yes, both are easy traps to fall into. I think it’s important to remind ourselves that we’re all just humans. And that’s both a very dignifying and very humbling position to be in.
I was born in Russia but my father grew up in Ukraine. It's tricky these days because I have family on both sides of the conflict and in the middle of it too. My parents immigrated to United States when I was in middle school. I am in CA.
Why did that historical period interest you?
aBSOLUTE LOL FOR being extraordinarily calm at work and then lying awake at 2 a.m. Not because it's funny, but because it describes me so well.I spent years in executive roles where everyone expected me to have an answer, preferably before they'd finished explaining the problem. And most days, I did. What they didn't see was how much uncertainty I carried home afterward.
I think that's where your distinction between authenticity and perfection matters. Being the same person everywhere doesn't mean behaving the same way everywhere. Sometimes leadership requires you to be the calmest person in a room when you're anything but calm.
What matters more to me is whether people can trust you when things get uncomfortable. I've worked with very charming leaders who disappeared the moment a difficult decision needed making. And rather difficult ones who would stand beside their people when everything went wrong.
I'll take the difficult one, thanks. Although preferably one who doesn't make me sit through another PowerPoint about company values.
Glad to hear I wasn’t the only one, Jenny! And I agree with you I’d rather have a difficult boss who was trustworthy than a smooth talking boss who couldn’t be trusted. Although it’s the worst when they are neither nice nor trustworthy haha.
Thanks for writing about this! Definitely interesting hearing about the multidimensional nature of the people in your story. But I also took it as how to show up better and more consistently for the people in my life, especially my kids.
Glad you liked it, Winston! Yeah I think it’s hard to show up consistently, but it’s important for us all to try!
I appreciate how much nuance you add to the story. I also applaud you for humanizing each person. People are not always good or bad.
Thanks, Erin! Really glad you liked it!
This is so beautiful and relatable. Sometimes the best plans are the ones we let go of to notice the small wonders through our children's eyes. As a writer exploring inner peace and presence, I deeply resonate with this. Let's keep growing together.
Colin, your story about the boss you trusted despite disagreeing with him says so much. We often confuse authenticity with being likable, when trust is really about knowing someone will stand by their principles, even when it's inconvenient. Brands struggle with this too. It's easy to write beautiful values on a website; it's much harder to live up to them when nobody's watching. And your sister makes a great point: falling short of your values isn't the same as abandoning them.
Hi Lea, I’m glad you appreciated that story. That’s a good point… because actually this boss wasn’t always likeable. Sometimes he was a difficult guy. But in general I really liked and respected him, because he was very consistent and stood by his principles.
I agree about the branding angle too. There’s a lot of companies that really preach good values but it doesn’t aways align with what they’re doing behind the scenes.
Yeah, my sister has a lot of wisdom! I really appreciate her take on things!
Thanks for the restack @ClariSynth!!