Time, stubbed toes, and an invitation
The obnoxious limits of time.
It's been 2 years since I quit my corporate life/job, 20 months since I sent my first newsletter, and 6 months since you've heard from me.
Where have I been?
Living, working, resting, reading, adventuring, resting some more. I also started a business, which was never on my [relatively long] bucketlist, but life has a funny way of leading us towards the unexpected.
Building this business has been a wild and fulfilling ride. (And I am head-over-chunky-heels in love with it).
But it's also been a balancing act -- a continual juggling of the glamorous ( an LLC! business cards! contracts!) and the not-so-glamorous (compliance, quickbooks, contracts), and the everything-else that I hold so dear (family, friends, travel, sleep). And in the face of my newfound freedom to do whatever I want to do, whenever and however, I also had to stub my toe more than once on that nasty little obstacle we call time.
In Four Thousand Weeks: Time and How to Use it, Oliver Burkeman sums up the pain of a toe stubbed on time:
"The problem with trying to make time for everything that feels important—or just for enough of what feels important—is that you definitely never will.”
It’s obnoxious.
And so, over the past 6 months, as I confronted the finitude of time and the half-life of caffeine, I took a little pause with :Melina's Out of Office” to make space for some other things.
So what now?
I started “Melina's Out of Office” in the wake of my quitting; as I was reflecting on my experiences in the workplace (and the world), the newsletter was a way for me to share the things that seemed far too interesting to keep to myself. Data, insights, anecdotes, thoughts that blew my mind and, perhaps, yours too. In that chapter, that felt important, to use Oliver Burkeman's phrasing.
But now, something new feels important.
After so many months of thinking and reflecting, I feel the pull to turn these learnings into meaningful change -- that thing we call progress.
And so, “Melina's Out of Office” is stepping aside to make way for a new newsletter that strives for exactly that. It's called "Uncomfortable Questions."
“Uncomfortable Questions” has the same mission as “Melina's Out of Office” -- to change the way we work -- with an updated format. Each week, I'll be addressing one specific question that we face in the workplace, but are often too scared to ask aloud. It will have all the things I loved about my first newsletter (data, research, puns, resources), with a fun video component.
As sad as it feels to close this chapter, I'm so excited for Uncomfortable Questions and all that will come with it.
The Invitation
I'm formally (but lovingly) inviting you each to sign up to this new newsletter, should it intrigue you. You can also access archived issues of my newsletter here.
I'll close this piece with two lines from one of my favorite poems from Antonio Machado -- a message my father has recited to me since well before I could type:
“Caminante, no hay camino;
se hace camino al andar”
/
“Traveler, there is no path;
You make your own path as you walk.”
Go forth, stub your toes, and join me weekly at Uncomfortable Questions.
