Revisiting a Work Ethic
The following is an excerpt from a newsletter published November 9th, 2023
What's your relationship to the word work?
What about… hard work?
Our relationship to these words drives more of our behaviour than we realize.
Work, as capitalism has presented it to us, often becomes synonymous with exploitation.
But we can encourage work without domination or punishment. We can apply effort without going past the edges of our own humanity.
adrienne maree brown talks about “principled struggle” and wow does that framing resonate.
For me: I am willing to struggle in the direction of what’s important to me. I don’t expect something new to me to be easy. And I will do my absolute damndest to practice discipline without dehumanization.
(That is a real note I wrote to myself earlier this week when I was… shall we say, wrestling with an article.)
I encourage you to explore your own relationship with work and any meaningful commitments it brings up.
A few things that could help with that exploration:
Be mindful of your fuel. What's fuelling you? What are you connected to when you work? A love of something, a fear of something, a proving, a wanting… If you continuously find yourself burning out and/or building toward dead ends, pay attention to your fuel source.
Be mindful of your stories. Do you believe work should be hard? Easy? I often find we're at one extreme of the scale and need to come back to a balanced middle. If you're continuously harsh with yourself, check in with your expectations.
Practice helpful reframes. Maybe this feels hard simply because it's new? Simply because you're unpracticed? There's also a real tension between safety and innovation. We want to try something new, but the vulnerability of that risk pulls us back to familiar—and safe—centers of gravity. Tell yourself, “This is worth trying.”
Develop your own language! Don't like the word work? Don't use it. What language feels good in your body? Applied effort. Tender Discipline. Generous Devotion?
Choose your direction, choose your hard. I keep coming back to the line, “If we're going to wrestle, may as well wrestle with angels.” Maybe this is going to be hard. Maybe I am going to be nervous before every call for the first five years of my business or before every gallery opening for the rest of my career. But it's worth it. This is the path I'm choosing and it's worth it.
What are you wanting to cultivate in yourself right now?
That's really what it comes down to.
When it comes to work—your work—and your relationship to it: What would you benefit from right now?
Holding things a little looser? With more reverence?
What are you working toward. What are you working in favour of.
Reply and let me know,
— Kate
P.S. This issue’s header photo was taken during a visit to Hancock Shaker Village this fall. Shared here because will that place ever have you revisiting a work ethic—ha!
P.P.S. A Slow, Sweet Winter
