Archive for Anxiety
I was going to say that it’s been a difficult and stressful week, but I’m trying to remind myself to question that kind of totalizing narrative. So maybe it would be more accurate to say: It’s been a complicated week for me, with a couple of particularly difficult and stressful events that I’m not ready […]
Jane the Virgin was one of my favorite TV shows. But in mid-2018, in season 4, there was a storyline that I found hard to watch. I thought that storyline had ended, but I was still a little tense about the show, so I paused for a while between episodes—and somehow didn’t pick it up […]
I’ve found, and have heard from others, that sometimes it can be hard to get yourself to open a particular file, due to issues like anxiety and avoidance and procrastination. In such situations, for some people, I can imagine that it might be useful to have a system that automatically opens the file for you […]
I’ve been thinking lately about my tendencies to keep stuff. (This post is just recording some things I’ve been thinking about, and adding some musings as I go. I’m not looking for advice here.) I have a lot of stuff. A lot of it is stuff that I love and am very happy to have; […]
There’s lots that I want to write about, but also lots that I want to do today, so maybe I’ll try a quick-ish (but still on the long side) what-I’ve-been-up-to post and then go try to do some stuff. This is meant as a description of what I’m up to, not as requests for advice. […]
(Wrote the first part of this post on Friday (Jan. 20), and posted it to Facebook. Started the second part later on Friday; finished and posted it on Saturday (Jan. 21).) (This is a long post—nearly 6,000 words. The short version: I’ve been laid off after 18 years at Google; I’m fine; I’m not looking […]
Short version of this post: I recommend not using the “popcorn” system to have people in a meeting introduce themselves, because there are a variety of ways that that system can cause stress and upset to participants. Long version follows. Background A couple of times now, I’ve been in social-justice-related video calls with a bunch […]
Two things about work: 1. I have now gotten approval to work from home permanently. I’ll still go in to the office now and then to see colleagues, as appropriate, but most of the time, I can stay home. I know that lots of people hate working from home, and y’all have my sympathies. (As […]
I’m seeing reactions that I think are worth signal-boosting regarding conventions held in virtual spaces like Gather (aka GatherTown) and Kumospace. The core of the issue is that although those kinds of spaces may be really useful and accessible for some people, they’re really inaccessible and hard to use for a lot of other people. […]
Here’s a long detailed post about how my travel day went. (For background, see my post from the other day.) (The first three photos attached to this post show me after shaving in preparation for wearing an N95 mask; the fourth one shows me wearing the mask; the fifth shows me on the plane, with […]
Short version of this post: I’m in Oak Park for the next couple months. Longer version: After months of uncertainty and waffling, I decided to come to Oak Park to see Mary Anne and Kat. I’m not going to go into detail here about my whole thought process leading up to that decision. I will […]
This week at work was our annual mini-conference for tech writers from all across the company, called Burning Pen. It’s usually one of the high points of my work year, mostly because it’s really nice to get to hang out with colleagues who I like but don’t see often enough. The talks are often good […]