Learning to Love Our Limits

How to find the balance between being a yes-girl and a Gen Z ghoster

See, I think many of us carry the deep burden of the American Dream within us. We are told from a very small age that we can be whatever we want to be—as long as we work hard enough. And so we naturally believe that the onus is on us: we will succeed as much as we’re willing to work.

This Thursday is our second Poetry JAM & SLAM, and YOU’RE INVITED.

Last week we had a wonderful, intimate group. We worked on ekphrastic (descriptive) poems about a photo of our choice and then shared them—sloppy copies and all. The feedback was that having that dedicated time to write was an absolute gift and treasure. We would LOVE to see you there this week (8-9 PM EST). Register here for the ZOOM link:

[P.S. if you’re a paid subscriber, it’s free! simply respond to this email and I’ll send you the coupon code.]

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To Ghost, or Not To Ghost?

I read an article today that said that 93% of Gen Z’ers have ghosted a job interview and that 87% have not even shown up for their first day of work.

My jaw actually might have dropped.

As a bona fide yes-I-will-do-it-and-I-will-do-it-well girl, the thought of not showing up for an interview or a first day at work seems so brazen that I can’t imagine ever have the pluck to try. It’s the stuff my nightmares are made of: knowing I have a job to do, and not being able to get there to do it. [I regularly wake up in night-sweat terror after dreaming my principal has called to let me know my class is waiting for their lesson and to cry, “Where the heck are you?” Cue the panic.]

Maybe it’s the fact that I’m a millennial¹, or maybe it’s just that good ole Aroostook County stock (if you’re from Maine, you know), but there is a fundamental truth that dwells in my heart that says, “Thou shalt not be flaky.”

As much as this statistic continues to astound me, I can’t help but wonder if it’s an important hint at a cultural shift that’s beginning to happen around our core understandings about work and pleasure, life and meaning. In this post-pandemic world where people place higher value on flexibility and quality of life than paychecks and status, and where the ‘soft-girl era’ is showing ‘boss ladies’ and hustle culture to the door, I get the sense that society is taking a hard look at its way of life and starting to find the words to say, “We’re burnt out, and we’re tired of it, okay?!”

I’ve been on the pendulum between gettin’ ‘er done and embracing that soft-girl lifestyle for the past year and a half. When I stopped teaching in 2022,