Work Hard. Play Hard. Rest Hard. Rock on.
We Are Batch
We are batch. An all-female, creative digital production studio in the heart of Cape Town, South Africa.
And in a flash we have hit June, a little something we here at We Are Batch like to refer to as the burnout red zone. Most likely all of us had to hit the ground running in January either fighting for our jobs or fighting for our business’s survival.
It’s no secret that many of us are feeling it at the moment, regardless of our industries. The cost of living is on a strong upward trend, but our salaries aren’t. Our clients are cutting budgets and staff, leading to work drying up, and as a result, it can feel like there is no time for time off because the risk of stepping away from it all is too high.?
Cue our ever-suffering mental health entering the chat.?
On a global scale, most people experience burnout at their jobs at some point. Although there has been a rise in positive concern for employee mental health, work-life balance, and support by employers, awareness and rhetoric just simply isn’t enough.?
Combating burnout, and building and maintaining a positive work-life balance is a responsibility that falls on the shoulders of both the employer and the employee. For example, an employee cannot create and maintain a positive work-life balance if their workload distribution, the company’s culture, and their responsibilities are unreasonable. At the same time, an employer cannot create space for balance and mental health if the company’s employees don’t embrace it and take it on. It is very much a “situationship” that requires work from both parties to attain balance.
On the upside, we are finding ourselves in a “work-place revolution” of sorts. Companies are adapting and shifting to prioritize making a work-life balance possible. The benefits of this approach speak for themselves. But make no mistake, there are still wolves in the herd using the right lingo and saying the right kind of things online to build positive clout whilst not actually doing anything. They continue to cut staff, and budgets, and make little to no changes within the workplace and its treatment of employees. A similar trend can be seen in the way the “therapy-speak” trend has been adopted and weaponized to justify toxic behavior in partners and friendships. This leads to all new kinds of problems and friction within relationships.
To this, all we can say is, “ people, that Jonah Hill is not worth dying on. Get off, and get off now. We see you.”
So what is the actual problem or cause and what could possibly be the solution? In this day and age information is accessible, affordable and answers should be readily available to all those in need of them. So why are we so lost, tired and stressed? Is it the boomer generation whispering, “we never needed vacations or weekends off”? Is it the fact that we can work from anywhere, anytime and subsequently end up working all the time? Maybe it’s the trend of “being busy” and the burnout badges so many seem to wear way too proudly. Or is the fact that ultimately, very few people have the time and luxury to do the needed introspective work and locate the source of their anxiety or how the weight of the world landed between their shoulder blades?
Truthfully, we don’t know. Like everyone, we are struggling and sorting through it one day at a time. The solution might be hiding somewhere on the scale between Eastern medicine, a padel club membership, or immersive hot stone therapy. This is not to make light of the issue, in all honesty, we think when one becomes desperate enough, any and all avenues start looking appealing. But making time for some introspection with the goal of building some level of self-awareness isn’t a bad place to start taking a stab at things.?
Also, do we really need the standard vanilla answer on mental health? Or might it all come down to a few basics like self-awareness, accountability, seeing other people as human beings, mutual respect, healthy boundaries, and some hard-core discipline with soft-core kindness?
It really is important to find balance in all things, and that should always be the goal, from both sides. Yes, you “the employer” and you “the employee”. It is okay to work really hard, even exceptionally hard. It is also fine to be momentarily overwhelmed whilst in the middle of the grind. This is where we learn new skills, adapt within an organization and grow. Hopefully this is also when we learn to work smarter and not harder. Trust us when we say you don't just start there, that badge will cost you some hours in the grinder (no pun intended). Sometimes hitting the ground running (and falling) is better than having training wheels and a comfortable safety net. It just can’t become the default setting. It is not supposed to last forever. Work hard and hustle, then “leave it all on the dance floor”, as they say.?
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We need to step back and be equally as serious about resting. No excuses, no explaining why it is justified, no shame because it is necessary. This is hard, but it is worth it. And the risk will always be there. So in our opinion get comfortable with the uncomfortable because if everything does go to shit, your mental health is shit and you are burnt out, well, how the hell will you get back up? Spoiler, you just might not.
Our point. If you can’t rest before or after, June/July is a good time to prioritize some PTO backed up with follow-through and some discipline when taking it. After all, the northern hemisphere is on summer break, the southern hemisphere is freezing its t*it's off and it’s financial year end and tax season somewhere.?
At the end of the day, we are all in shit street and nothing is guaranteed anyway.?
Written by: Daniéla de Lange & Melaine de Wet
Sources:
Marketing designer - helping founders engage and convert their target audience into loyal advocates with creative marketing strategies.
3 个月I loved this read, it is so articulate Daniéla de Lange Melaine de Wet My favorite part is the BOLD call takeaway lessons. We seriously need to be serious about resting. It is the least we can do for ourselves while we build our careers, working every day, and thinking about work every day. It got to a point where I made a realization, the same realization shared in bold at the end of the article and I never looked back again. I rest without feeling guilty. Rest and you can perform x2 better. Great post once again Daniéla & Melaine!
Sr. Motion Designer (AE) @ Freelance
4 个月Your first was one of my favorite newsletters. Looking forward to the second one. ??