You're Killin It Podcast

May 17, 2024

you're killin it - and other things we tell ourselves and each other to keep going

<p>Does a little voice inside you wince when you hear someone tell you <em>you’re killing it?</em> too, or is it just me?</p><p>There’s a bitterness when you hear a compliment that you don’t feel ready to receive. </p><p>The little voice inside me carries sloshing buckets of overwhelm, salty retorts (‘if only they knew how hard I worked to make this look easy’) and puffy-eyed exhaustion. I’d like to find a way to tell her to put the buckets down and ask for some goddamn help, but we both know that’s not how this works. Not when you’re addicted to absolutely stewing in it.</p><p></p><p><p>You're Killin It is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></p><p></p><p>Beachball Baby</p><p>I saw a reel the other day — a swimming instructor getting what looked to be a six month old ready for their first survival swimming lesson. Here I was thinking, how sweet, she’ll place them into the water, letting them bob gently — NOPE! She punted them into the pool like a beachball and immediately started snapping her fingers over the flailing baby, making movement and noise to, I guess, get the little guy to know which way is up? Shock subsumed me, quickly followed by a slice of rage — That’s not fair! what the hell!? What a cruel way to be introduced to something.</p><p>Then I thought about it some more.</p><p>Actually… it’s good? Controversial, yes, but it was a no coddling, no bullshit way to get this kid to know the lay of the land, uh, chlorinated pool. Beachball baby started to float and look at the snapping fingers of the instructor astonishingly quick.</p><p>The whole scene playing out on my phone is in stark contrast with how a large swath of millennials had been raised, that is, under totally false pretences where, somehow, if we followed the rules and checked the right boxes, we’d get ours. I don’t need to tell you that didn’t happen for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/personal-finance/new-class-war-wealth-gap-millennials-rcna149577">many of us</a>. </p><p><strong>You’re killin it</strong> is a home for essays, dispatches and other bits of writing about the millennial flavour of burnout from me, Laura: a child-free, Vancouver based worker-owned small business founder trying to get a wrangle on the dishes, my inbox, and the detritus of life. My goal is to feel like I’m living again.</p><p><strong>Here are a few examples I'm eager to dig into to give you a sense of the scope of this thing:</strong></p><p>* I felt like I'd "made it" - reflections on my early career as a green coffee buyer </p><p>* Scaling my small business might not be the answer—On doughnut economics</p><p>* Taking my pulse with my doordash history—How burnout tosses me into almost impossible cycles</p><p>* Hyper-vigilance is a trap—How I’m trying to find the right balance of asking for help when the stakes feel high</p><p>* Body-talk—Wearing burnout on my skin (eczema)</p><p>* Burnout at the societal level - The rate of consumption is too fast for a subculture to breathe. </p><p>* We’re not talking about class in relation to burnout—We should be</p><p></p><p>It’s clear this a systemic thing— no-one has the answer for how to fix this, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/annehelenpetersen/millennials-burnout-generation-debt-work">no-one is unaffected</a>. This topic deserves its own newsletter. </p><p>If anything, this newsletter is an attempt at hope in action—That I can find my way back to a place where I don’t feel like I’m constantly treading water. </p><p>In short, I’d like to be beachball baby. </p><p>And who knows—Maybe one day when I hear ‘you’re killin it!’, it will make me smile. </p><p>See ya soon,</p><p>Laura</p><p><p>Thanks for supporting this work by subscribing.</p></p> <br/><br/>Get full access to You're Killin It at <a href="https://laurajperry.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_4">laurajperry.substack.com/subscribe</a>