This was the first week in months that life felt somewhat normal. It was really nice. I am also so sold on a Nespresso once again. I have been at this pet sitting job since Sunday and they have a Nespresso and it makes nice coffee and is just so easy. It very nearly made the favourites list this week, but it got bumped by the actual list. Also, I have mentioned the amount of overtime and work travel that I have been doing lately and it has caught up to me, psychologically (bad) and financially (absolutely excellent). And to say that I have never had a pay cheque like this one is an understatement. So I’m feeling good about things overall.
Social Media Favorite: Serena Goh
Serena is a Reels master, her cooking videos are superb. I can’t get half the ingredients where I live (no seriously, you can’t even get miso here), but I love her aesthetic, her style, her recipes, and her home. It’s just all so beautiful.
Movie/TV Favorite: CSI
Is CSI objectively good TV? Absolutely not. However, it is one of my comfort shows and something that I feel safe watching when I’m pet sitting. It’s one of those shows that everyone is familiar with so if it shows up on my clients’ TVs after I leave, I’m not worried about what they might think about me based on what I watched while I was in their house.
Podcast Favorite: Dark History: Pre-Tampon vs. Post-Tampon World
This week Bailey tells us about the social history and stigma of periods throughout history and across cultures and the evolution of period products over time. It was really interesting and very appropriate for the week of International Women’s Day.
Random Favorite 1: Maggie Rogers: Heard it in a Past Life
I feel like once every couple months I rediscover this album and I always wonder how I forgot about it. It’s energy is just so good, Maggie and I have the same vocal range so I can un-self-consciously belt it out and it’s just a good vibes album.
Random Favorite 2: Therapy
I am not a regular therapy go-er, I maybe should be, but I’m currently not (I could never afford it before, and in university and grad school there was too much demand and not enough counsellors). But I have had 4 panic attacks in the last week and knew I needed to nip it in the bud. They were all happening while I was working so I reached out the employee assistance program and was able to get seen pretty quickly which was impressive. It was interesting to implement some of their suggestions in the days since. I have booked time off, I am taking two 15 minute breaks, one in the morning and in the afternoon on top of my lunch (which I have always been very good at taking). It’s like I knew what I needed, but I needed to hear it from someone else to actually do it.
She also said something that is really sticking with me. Public health workers spend just as much time in school as nurses and doctors and have been working just as hard as nurses and doctors, and exposed to just as much loss, illness, suffering, and risk as doctors and nurses. But doctors and nurses receive training on how to deal with loss, suffering, risk but we don’t. We are trained to be academics, not frontline workers, but for the past two years we have been frontline workers and so comparing the ways we are coping to the ways they appear to be coping is not productive. I’ve been thinking about this a lot over the past couple days.
I am also super excited to actually be going home for a few days, I might have another pet sitting booking starting next Thursday and I leave this job on Saturday, which even if I am only home from Saturday evening until Thursday morning will be the longest I have been home in about 5 weeks and I am so excited.
Laura
Thoughtful Millennial 