Hard week upcoming at work: encouragement/love?

[oak]

Hi friends.

Corporate America is kicking my butt: I've been tasked with implementing something, and I am getting yelled at. If you know what the "Karen" meme is, Karen is very unhappy, and taking it out (unjustifiably) on me.

Can I plainly ask for encouragement? Love even?

(It is scary to use my words, but there it is!)

[Heatherwantspeace]

Oak, I wish you the power to get through this project! Picture yourself underneath a beautiful waterfall, that Karen's words roll right off.
More that this, I send hopes that a job opportunity is on its way to you now. Yelling in a workplace?! That is ridiculous and you deserve to be treated with respect.
Heather

[manuel_moe_g]

Much love and encouragement, from those who know you and admire you.

[brownblob]

You will survive this buttkicking. You are stronger than you know.

[Brooke]

Hi Oak,

I'm sorry you are stuck in a really bad situation at work... It's so stressful to be yelled at for no justifiable reason...(or any reason for that matter!) Ever since you DMed me with your encouraging words in the past, I have had a special place for you! I hope that I can encourage you and make you feel special this time
I think it's amazing that you are working hard at work. I know it's easy to take for granted that we can get up and even go to work every day. Coming from someone who cannot work due to fibromyalgia, I have a lot of respect for you. Thank you for asking the community for encouragement and love. That is so brave of you and I'm glad to see others reply to your message. I know that we don't know each other personally, but we're all here for you and truly care. We each have our own challenges in life, but I'm so glad that we can come together and support one another.
On a personal note, I just found out that I have an autoimmune disease called "connective tissue disease (which causes pain in your joints)" and am so depressed myself... This is why I logged in this time... I might also have RA and am so scared and hopeless... Thanks for letting me share my feelings too.
I hope you are getting by this week. I'm glad we could connect. We're all rooting for you!!

Love,
Brooke

[oak]

Thank you, my dear friends (with a special word for Brooke, below).

You kind words encouraged me, and I was more loving/strong because you took the time to so generously give of your encouragement. Likewise, my father told me he is proud of me, and that I am worthy of our last name: his father and uncles, good men, would be proud to see me play the man.

Our friend Heather was very prescient!:

1. Karen chose to Karen.

2. Oh goodness am I close to confirming a new job offer. And since no one accepted my ready offer, over the years, to train someone else in my tiny, niche-y fiefdom, oh goodness will Karen really have something to be angry about if/when I leave.

This experience has been one of the five worst experiences of my life, and I've been through some stuff. It also brought me to a lovely understanding of turning things over to a higher power (basically proving anything our dear dear friends in the 12 step movement say in their mottoes, especially my gurus, the geniuses at Al Anon), exercising, and growing closer with my father.

Now none of this work nightmare abuse should have happened, and the perpetrators are responsible for their own karma. But the outcomes of this nightmare for me have all been good.

A special word for Brooke:

Hello! I am glad my humble encouragements, offered with sincerity, have proven useful to you. Work is many things, all at once. No less an authority than Freud stated that work is one of the two worthy pursuits in life. Work is beautiful, even when it is ugly. Just like love, the other worthy pursuit, it is so profoundly beautiful and complex that its paradoxes are equally true.

At the risk of doxing myself, I can assure you of one thing: I know for a fact that some of the smartest people in the world are diligently working on immunology, rheumotology, and pharmacology.

The fact is that you are suffering with the medical difficulties you listed: each is a very difficult situation. That's the bad news.

The good news is that there are extremely smart people, vast resources, and high standards being effected every day to address each of the serious health issues you are facing. I'd say more, but rest assured that some of the best people on the planet are working diligently to help you and your fellow sufferers.

While none of us can make any guarantees, I am very confident that in the coming years, the next very few years (5-10) radical advances in medicine (AI, tiny bots, liquid 3d printing) will give you the chance to work again. I'd not be surprised at all that much of what you struggle with today is greatly reversed or mitigated. Again, no promises, but from what I've seen, there is excellent reason for hope.

[oak]

I made it through that week. Like all historically bad weeks, the badness bled into the next week (last week).

I did give my notice this week, having gotten a job offer.

Perhaps not coincidentally I was able to clean my apartment, something I never got around to doing when I was overwhelmed by anxiety from work.

I've always been surprised how similar the outcomes of my discouragement/grief have been to clinical depression.

[brownblob]

Awesome. I hope the new job is a better experience and your world brightens.

[Heatherwantspeace]

Oak, I'm so happy for the new job! And the resurgence of energy giving your notice gave you. Yay!
Heather

[oak]

Thanks Brownblob and Heather!

Whenever I really don't want to write a post, like I really don't want to this right now, I know it is all the more important to do so. So here goes:

Going into my last week, Karen is intensifying. I have a proto-ulcer.

Here are my rewards I'm giving myself for not quitting before my two weeks:

Monday: Listen to Buena Vista Social Club

Tuesday: Play Pokemon Go

Wednesday: tbd

Thursday: tbd

Thanks for listening! I'll post here with an update.