The newsletter was written under Lindsay Crouse's byline, featuring a video she produced on this topic, with a brief introduction in the newsletter. I am not sure if Crouse's words are duplicated somewhere on the NYT site that I could link to -- but I'm going to reproduce them here because I think they are so worth reading. (Infertility is never mentioned, but I think there's a lot here that applies!):
It hit me over the summer: Everyone was quitting. Certainly, there has been an exodus from jobs. In what’s been called the “Great Resignation,” the number of workers who quit their jobs in April alone broke an all-time U.S. record. But then more people quit in July, and in August, even more.But people aren’t just quitting jobs. They’re moving cities too. Divorce rates are up. If there was ever a time to shake up your life, 2021 seems to be it.As you’ll see in today’s Opinion video, which I made with Kirby Ferguson, I find this turn of events fascinating. It’s scary to confront the stigmas around quitting, which are instilled in us from childhood. We’re taught that quitters are losers, who shuffle through life without ever achieving the great breakthrough many of us have been raised to covet, not just by our families, but by movies, songs and general Americana.For our whole lives, our culture has encouraged us to embrace toughness and perseverance at all costs — but those costs can be higher than we realize, especially to ourselves. What if sticking with something for the sake of sticking with it actually causes you more harm than good? What if the smartest thing you can do to achieve success is quit?As brutal as it’s been, I think the pandemic has forced many of us to reflect — and to realize that our tolerance for change might be higher than we thought. The disruption has helped us see what we were too busy to notice before. Now that we’ve been jostled off the treadmill of our ordinary lives, we have a chance to figure out what we path we really want to be on. And to start down that one instead.
Here's a link to the video Crouse mentions, which is also worth watching. :) (The comments are worth a glance too.)
Oooooh, I love this SO SO SO much:
ReplyDelete"For our whole lives, our culture has encouraged us to embrace toughness and perseverance at all costs — but those costs can be higher than we realize, especially to ourselves. What if sticking with something for the sake of sticking with it actually causes you more harm than good? What if the smartest thing you can do to achieve success is quit?"
That is AMAZING. I relate to that paragraph in particular. Thank you so much for sharing! I will have to watch the video later.
I see this as one example of the pandemic helping human culture catch up to our wisdom and lens of experience. Do I dare hope? Either way, it's been amusing to witness.
ReplyDeleteSarah, is that you?? ;) Anyway, great observation and I totally agree. :)
DeleteHa ha - yeah, I had to log in with my gmail account. Looks like I finally figured out how to comment on blogspot blogs - yay!!
DeleteLOL... you figured it out so well you posted the same comment five times!! -- I deleted the extras! ;)
DeleteI read that, and loved these questions: "What if sticking with something for the sake of sticking with it actually causes you more harm than good? What if the smartest thing you can do to achieve success is quit?"
ReplyDeleteOops - I just see that Jess said that too. They are so good though they are worth repeating. Because we know this. We learnt the hard way. It's nice to see the idea being put out there for all to consider.