Sorry I Missed That Meeting, My Virtual Assistant Decided I Should Sleep In This Morning, And I Don’t Tend To Argue With Her All-Knowing Digital Omnipotence.
Sweeties! So I’ve once again discovered a fatal flaw in using an Alexa as one’s only alarm clock: it’s super easy to yell “Alexa, STOP” when an alarm goes off, and then sleep in an hour and a half and wake up wondering when in all hell 5:00 am got so light out. So join me next time for a very special episode of “looking up refurbed old school alarm clocks for sale on eBay that I can stash in the other room and have to get out of bed and hunt around for to turn off.”
TO THE INTERNET!
Are you finding yourself super drained after a day of virtual meeting via Zoom or another video conferencing software in a way unlike after a “regular” day at the office? SAME, and I’m an insane extrovert, so I was wondering why that was. Well, as a couple of my colleagues sent around yesterday, we’re not alone: as the BBC wrote, Zoom fatigue is real and we’re all experiencing it. Of the theories why this is the case, the “self-complexity theory” and how all of our social interactions, whether they be work, family, friends or dating (Heyooooooo Zoom first dates! Can’t wait to tell those stories to my non-existent grandchildren,) are all collapsing into one set of devices, in the only space we’re only ever in. And that’s super tiring. Also, as this Axios piece goes into, all of the video lag and lack of true eye contact and “hey, you’re on mute” contributes to a general social anxiety we aren’t used to. Also: QUARANTINE IS TIRING so therefore everything is tiring. So let’s cut ourselves some slack.
On that note, this was also shared by a colleague yesterday: 17 Totally Normal Things to Feel Right Now, According to Therapists. I kinda want to make a bingo card from this, because methinks I’m pretty damned close to hitting it: surprisingly calm, mourning cancelled events, and “craving a freaking hug, damn it” being my absolute go-tos. Side note: I am eternally grateful that I work for a firm where our senior leadership team is genuinely concerned about everyone’s mental health, it means the world.
Hey, for all of the uterus-havers out there: “New guidelines from [Britain’s] Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH), who set key national guidelines for the safe prescription of contraceptives, highlight that there is no health benefit to the traditional seven-day break in taking the combined contraceptive pill”. So take those birth control pills every day, my friends, and defeat the tyranny of monthly menstruation! But guess what we learned in this piece? The reason there was a seven-day break was not for women’s health or some other medical reason. No, it was because the the gyno who developed it was hoping the break would make it more acceptable to the Pope and all catholics. Spoiler alert: IT DIDN’T (screams into the void, breaks out the emergency chocolate.)
And finally, y’all are familiar with my wee quarantine Tik Tok habit. And if you’re wondering what my feed has become, it’s a lot of farm animals, insane cats and dogs, and absolutely lovely humans like Tabitha Brown, who posts videos of her creating vegan meals while spreading love and light and hope. She’s delightful and brings so much joy.
I like you. You’re great. So be kind to yourself, alright?
xoxo Amy