Are you perfectly whelmed?

Somewhere out in the universe (probably tumbling about alongside pieces of Elon Musk's most recent rocket and 2000 years' worth of missing socks) are a bunch of words that have escaped their partners and made a bid for freedom ??

Leaving behind them a sad cohort of lonely nouns and adjectives with no other halves ??.

These are the so-called 'unpaired words', abandoned by their ruthless partners. (Yes ruthful, I'm looking at you, floating carefree among the debris of Starship 8 and the green spotty ankle sock I've not seen since 2022)

This steady exodus of words is what's left many gormless but none gormful.

What leaves some acting impulsively but never pulsively.

Feeling inert, not ert.

Looking dishevelled, but seldom shevelled.

Poor "orphaned negatives" ??

When I was training as a coach, my late-great teacher Kris Robertson, invited us to reconcile with one of these wayward words. Because, he pointed out, it was such a shame that we could feel overwhelmed or underwhelmed, but never just whelmed.

What, Kris would ask, would "perfect whelm" feel and look like to you? ??

It's a cracking question to ask yourself professionally as you consider your ideal work set-up and work-life balance.

Because boy is there ALOT going on right now. You feeling it? ??

Debates rage around us on WFH vs RTO, the rise of AI, concerns about mental health and burnout, our understanding of neurodiversity, tussles over EDI, the impact of geopolitics ... all those BIG topics that are so important and yet can threaten our very whelm.

So, today I just wanted to ask you - whether you're working a 50-hour-week or currently on a career break, whether you're leaning into ambition or slowing things down, whether you're single, knee-deep in nappies or waving kids off to university - what do you need to feel just the right level of "whelm"?

What do you need to

turn up

turn off

turn down

turn around

turn to

turn back

turn away

or turn into?

(Yep, I love me a phrasal verb too).

Yours, gruntled as always,

Rachel

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