Let’s talk about work.

I have been fortunate enough (or unfortunate enough, depending on how you look at it), to survive Corporate America for close to three years now. And I’ve learned a bunch of lessons about work as a result. The lessons include the following:

Work makes you fat.
I don’t know what it is about the work setting. Maybe it’s the florescent lights or the missed lunches because “the-day-just-ran-away-from-me-again.” Maybe it’s the peer pressure to be a “team player” and eat yet another cupcake in celebration of the newest office birthday, anniversary, marriage, birth, etc. But for some reason, disgustingly greasy potato chips, stale chocolate chip cookies and two-bite brownies (or seven-bite brownies…whatever) are so much more appealing between the M-F, 9-5 hours.

Work completely obliterates the coffee snob in you.
I really love coffee- to the point of possible addiction. So, I gave it up for Lent earlier this year thinking it might serve as some sort of coffee rehab. That assumption was false. I had jitters and headaches for 40 days straight. The point being, I drink enough coffee now to discern the good from the bad. No matter how much I appreciate and savor a really good cup of joe on Sunday mornings, my coffee sensibilities go completely out the window by Tuesday at around 3 p.m. Green Mountain single pods start looking like the Ryan Reynolds of coffee. Which is to say, the Most. Delicious. Thing. Ever. 

Work is like visiting family for the holidays.
There’s small talk, awkward silence, the occasional bruised ego…and, whether it be a turkey or a work project, something always seems to be going up in flames. But at the end of the day, you sit around a big table and realize that you are all tied together. Maybe it’s by a DNA string, maybe it’s by a shared work passion. Either way, you have a bond with these people, no matter how seemingly different you all are. And that makes them kind of special. Or crazy. Or crazy special. 

Work matters.
Here’s the main point of this Sweet Sunday: Work Matters. You are at work most of your waking hours. You see your colleagues more than you see your family and friends. You sit at your desk more often than you sit in your house. So don’t choose to be somewhere just because it covers the bills. Or because the job title is prestigious. Or because you think you need to pay your dues. 

Instead, find work that you are absolutely in love with. Find a culture where the people you work with aren’t just your friends- they are an extension of your family. Work with people that you don’t mind eating stale cookies and drinking bad coffee for. 

Find a job that allows and encourages you to be creative, take risks, and make “unreasonable” decisions. Because to be honest, the “crazy” ideas are the only ones that make history. Find the career that gets you out of bed with excitement at 8 am. Or 7 am. Or 4 am. Do the work you know in your heart you were born to do. That’s where you’ll find energy, passion, love. That’s where you’ll find true joy.


Work to change the world in your own unique way- you’ve got too much to offer to work at anything less.