Category: Burnout
-
The Difference Between Being a Good Listener and Being Ignored
Listening vs. Erasure I Always Thought Listening Was Enough For years, I thought being quiet and attentive meant I was participating fully. If I wasn’t interrupting, if I was tracking what was said, if…
-
How Informal Mentoring Became an Unpaid Role I Never Asked For
I didn’t sign up for mentoring. I didn’t put it on my calendar. And yet it slowly became something people leaned on — without acknowledgment, credit, or permission. It Started With Small Questions At…
-
When Silence Is Seen as Maturity Instead of Disengagement
Cultural & Social Context Quiet Used to Feel Like a Mark of Maturity Somewhere along the way I picked up the idea that silence was a sign of maturity. That a person who didn’t…
-
Why I Mentor People at Work Without Recognition or Credit
I didn’t set out to be a mentor. I didn’t ask for it. Yet somehow over time it became one of the main ways people interacted with me at work. Before I Noticed It…
-
Why Being Quiet Works for Leaders but Hurts Everyone Else
Cultural & Social Context Quiet Is Rewarded at the Top At some point, I started noticing a pattern that didn’t make sense at first. When leaders or senior figures stayed quiet in discussion, their…
-
Why Being “Approachable” Comes With a Hidden Cost
I never set out to be the person everyone felt comfortable talking to — and yet that approachability became something people relied on long before I understood what it meant. Before Approachability Was Noticed…
-
How Office Norms Decide Whose Silence Looks Professional
Cultural & Social Context There Are Unspoken Rules About Silence I always thought silence was a blank space—neutral, unlit, something that didn’t need interpretation. But what I noticed over time is that silence in…
-
How Caretaking Roles Quietly Follow You Across Jobs
I never thought my job title would follow me — but what felt like invisible caretaking in one workplace quietly showed up again in the next. Leaving One Job Didn’t Leave This Behind I…
-
Why Silence Is Respected in Some Cultures and Penalized in Others
Why Silence Is Respected in Some Cultures and Penalized in Others I did not always realize silence was being interpreted differently depending on where I was. In some rooms, being quiet seemed to read…
-
When Emotional Labor Is Assumed Instead of Requested
It wasn’t that people asked for emotional labor — it was that they assumed it, as if it were already part of the invisible infrastructure of how we worked together. The First Time I…