Nobody Panic - How to Go Back to Work

Episode Date: July 21, 2020

Slowly heading back to work and finding yourself not remembering how to do your job? Taking three days to read one page? Completely overwhelmed and anxious about everything? Stevie and Tessa delve into how to cruise back to work, plus an important update about the Mayan calendar.Recorded and edited by Naomi Parnell for Plosive Productions.Photos by Marco Vittur, jingle by David Dobson.Follow Nobody Panic on Twitter @NobodyPanicPodSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/nobodypanic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, I'm Carriad. I'm Sarah. And we are the Weirdo's Book Club podcast. We are doing a very special live show as part of the London Podcast Festival. The date is Thursday, 11th of September. The time is 7pm and our special guest is the brilliant Alan Davies. Tickets from kingsplace.com. Single ladies, it's coming to London.

True on Saturday, the 13th of September. At the London Podcast Festival. The rumours are true, Saturday the 13th of September. At King's Place. Oh, that sounds like a date to me, Harriet. Welcome to Nobody Panic where we help you out with some things. I'm Stevie. I'm Tessa and we're doing our best. How are you guys doing? I'm quite looking forward to this episode because it's quite, I'd say it's quite a universal one. It's quite a broad one. It's also the element of the lockdown situation that I've been the most worried about, which is going back to work and going back to normal. So this one, yeah, it's going back to work and I think it's no matter what your work is, whether it's on a construction site, in a restaurant, in an office,

whether it's normally you always work from home, but you haven't been able to do it that much at the moment. Suddenly we're all going from this insane universal experience we've all been going through. And now we're having to like climb our way back into normal in inverted commas. And then be like, are we all just pretending it's the same as before or are we going to do it differently? So this is a really interesting one. Also, this was a suggestion from a listener. If I may read out this letter from my blue Peter bag. I really hope I pronounce it directly. It's from Bronte. Beautiful name. It says,

Hello, my podcast suggestion is how to go back to work. I've been thrown back in full time doing completely different work to normal and found myself feeling very anxious and small. I imagine and hope that I'm not the only person feeling this way. Best wish is Bronte. And then she put some PSs. I bloody love the podcast. Thank you Bronte. But then she put PPS. Tessa, if you haven't cancelled your subscription to the editing software, do before you're charged a fortune. And Bronte, I screamed. I, and I hadn't cancelled my software. I talked ages ago about making you that video and getting a free trial of Premiere Pro. Look, Bronte was better than I know myself.

I hadn't cancelled it. I had to go on and be like, and I had indeed been paying through it. So look, thank you. Who's the real hero of this story? Anyway, but it says, I imagine and hope that I'm not the only person feeling this way. And you are not. I think every single person in the world is feeling civil. scared and worried and being like, what do I do now? And I don't even remember how to do my job.

And this is the hard, almost this is like the harder side of the lockdown because the first side was obviously like incredibly stressful. But we were, it was like there was like a sense at least to like everyone's in it together. We're all very clear on what we have to do. And then gradually that has become obviously less clear or more kind of nuanced. But now it's kind of a frightening time that you feel like you're completely at the mercy of your employer. Yes, and you suddenly are like,

what are the rules anymore? Like, what do we supposed to be doing? And I truly think in the future, the history textbooks will be like, describe the impact of the trip to Barnard Castle on the second wave spike in the UK cases. Being like, once they've done that and they've fucked it so badly,

every person in the country was like, fuck it, I'm doing my own thing. Like, you can't. Yeah. Yeah. And so now we're this new wave where we're like, are people allowed in your houses? Are we going back to work? Is this? What's the rules anymore? So I think it's a very, very scary time for everybody. And so obviously, you know, you're not alone and we're going to hopefully guide you through it. But before that, Stevie, what's your adult thing? Oh, thanks. Stevie's really hung over today. No. No. She stares so slowly. over. Oh, been on a journey. So I, my friend started at the beginning of lockdown doing like a Twitch stream. And I was like, cool, I'm not a gamer. I don't understand. It was in the times.

The Times. It's very big. He's named Bill Al Zafar. The Acting School of Excellence. Acting School of Excellence. It's very, very funny. But he also does another like, he does a football stream as well, but it's not really about football. It's just him being stupid. It's really, really good. I've really enjoyed it the whole time. And he's, he He's been like, oh, you should do Twitch. And I've been like, yes, I don't understand. Elliot. Yeah.

And then I thought, lockdown is kind of easing. Time to start doing Twitter. People are out of their houses. No one will watch. So I'm going to do, from this Thursday, if you go on my Twitter at Stevie M, I've got the link there. This Thursday at 8pm, I'm going to start my weekly improvised book club, which is where I have a guest on. And my first guest is going to be, indeed, Bill Al. And it's worth, it's worth watching just for him because he's brilliant.

Basically, it's like, it's not an actual real book club, but everyone who joins, you must treat it like it's real. Me and the guest make up the book title at the start, and we make up what the book is about. And then we talk about the book incredibly seriously for, let's just say, like, between 20 and 30 minutes. Let's just give it, let's get and get out. If you would like to join and watch me just sort of like going, is it on for 25 minutes? then please do, please support. And by support, I just mean watch, there's no money involved in this,

and see if it's something that I will continue to do. And if it isn't, then look, you've seen a one-off, a one-off. You saw the trust and last. You got to say you were there. Got to say you were there and people will go, you were there for what? And you won't really be able to explain what. Mine is, for those following my sanding journey

for my five aborted trips to home base, that I did I tell you I bought the wrong sander on how to take it back? You did not? So this... Well, add that in. Wow. And I finally bought the right one. I've put up a shelf, Stevie, and oh, oh, it's... I saw the picture, and it looks like an Instagram picture of a shelf. Like, it's such a good shelf. I'm going to have to... I'll put it up somewhere. You'll never know where. I mean, I've got a picture of it so you can see it. It's really... It's really good. So it's all bits of scaffolding that I got out of a skip.

But if you're into scaffolding, if there's a timber yard near you or a wood recycling place or anything, they've always got scaffolding bits and you can get about a metre for about 50p. And you'll probably have to like saw it to length and like maybe cut some bits off it. And then, oh my God, you sand it. It's the closest to joy I felt all lockdown. It's unbelievable. The machine goes round and round. And then suddenly out of this horrible bit of wood emerges this like beautiful piece.

That's all I am. There's nothing to me, apart from sanding. I'll sand anything. Bring it near me. I'll sand it. And I just keep walking around the house. I'm like, shall I sand that? And then I put it up properly with the proper raw plugs.

So I didn't fall off. I did the proper drilling. I didn't just like blue tack it on, which is what I would have done in the past. I've really committed. And I feel fantastic. I mean, it feels like you're just absolutely powering away. Like you are, it's not a competition. But if it was, you would be winning.

Just to put it in perspective, I've been attempting to do this shelf for 100 days. Understood. Like, you know, context. Like, the time it has taken has been outrageous. Great. So I'm taking a lot of time on the dream board, you know, so I'm saying, like, don't think I just whipped it up. It really was a slow. But yeah, anyway, if you want to hear more about my sanding journey, log into my Twitch.

But the drill is on. I mean, the noise is on. So it's just completely inaudible. but like great as embracing new platforms and just moving with the times

so let's go I obviously as with most of these kind of broad quite oh no you know what specific specific questions

for broad things it's very difficult I mean we could but it would be quite a dull podcast if you went through every single occupation

and spoke and like just discuss the rights you have because look, that's not what people are listening to us for. And if you're listening to us for that, then God, I'm very sorry. That's never going to be more. You won't be finding it here, I'm sorry.

Yeah. If everything you just think like, read the list of workers' rights out in all alphabetical order. Yeah, believe it's not happening. It's all the people want. But I have looked up the general rights that you have as an employee. And we will be kicking up. Yes, high octane. Just strap in, to be honest.

No, it's actually quite gross because you are very much at the whims of your employer. Because technically, all of the stuff is like, oh, if you were shielding or you live with somebody who has, you know, is vulnerable. Aminompromised? Yes, immuno-compromised. It is nice, but then halfway through, I feel like I've lost the word. I'm like, you know, no, it can't be right. Compromised.

Oh, I smashed it. That's how that's what I think. It feels very, so yeah, yeah, you are, it's been made. very clear that like if you can work from home, that's absolutely fine, absolutely work from home. However, at the same breath, your employer can absolutely dismiss you if you refuse to go into work. And also there's a question as well about childcare. There's been no firm help. So we're in quite a difficult time when I think a lot of people will be, sort of feel like they're falling in the cracks of like being helped essentially.

And I think it can be quite frightening. And I know that I mean, I'm not a nine to five person. So I'm sort of essentially just going to continue doing what it's normally doing. But I have got a job at the end of July. And I've been a bit like, oh, I don't really want to go into a room full of people. What if they're like, what if they went to that illegal rave? But there's a point where you have to trust, isn't there? There's a point where you have to weigh up like the benefits with the negatives.

and so things that obviously if you like the child care situation we can't really tackle because we do not have experience of that and that is something that is hopefully in time the government will like come up with something like there's a lot of that isn't there's a lot of like oh I hope soon they come up with something so that X, Y, Z aren't just like what what am I supposed to do but in terms of the actual emotional side of going back to work when you maybe feel a bit like concerned or frightened or you're not used to the like even the commute like it's it's going to be quite jarring and it's going to be quite hard and I think you just have like the first step is just kind of knowing that for the first few weeks it's going to feel really alien and really strange

getting up getting out of the house commuting it's going to feel very like what and also as well like all of those meetings that have now been proven that they could have been emails are now going to go back to being meetings again and you're all just going to be sad in that boardroom being like Yeah, like we didn't need to be here. Like, you know, and there's going to be a lot of realizing that your job could be done at home. May I talk about the Mayan calendar? I mean, it feels relevant, so... I will all remember that in 2012, everyone was like,

this is when the Mayan calendar predicted the end of the world. Everybody lost their shit. And then, of course, nothing happened. And then this year, someone was like, sorry, I've just checked the dates. And when we switch from the Gregorian to the Julian calendar, we actually started losing days and we've lost eight years. And actually the mine calendar predicted 2020 was the end of the world. And everyone was like,

seems that narratively seems on point. And obviously that day has since come and gone. And again, we've not, the world didn't explode. But what a lovely twist for this series of the year. But in reading about it, the mind, the end of the world thing is not this like, fire and brimstone everything explodes it's more like um a re a rethinking like an end of an age and a restarting of a new one and I really firmly believe that like maybe that is genuinely what's happening they were bang on the bands are right they absolutely smashed it they were like guys you

fucked this like the environment's fucked like capitalism isn't working like look at how you you know look how people don't feel equal like look at all these things that are happening and so maybe this is I i'd be like so take that spirit of the mine calendar back into your workplace. It's what I'm saying. How? Wait for it. To be like, how can we

totally, now that we're coming back and had this chance to like totally reset, like, what is it we can do differently in the workplace? Be like, is this now that, rather than just being like straight back to these stupid meetings that didn't need to exist and people didn't need to be in that room. Like, is this

now the time to be like, these are the new rules for the like the new world order rather than just like immediately return. to like what wasn't working in the past. Maybe this is like, you being like, do I actually like this job? Like, is this what I actually want to do? Can I rethink everything I'm doing here? And if you have any sway being like, okay, how can we make this entire working environment better for everybody?

And if working from home, like you say, CB was working for you, like, can you keep doing that? Because you've set precedent like, you can do it. So therefore there's literally, there's no reason that we have to continue with the nine to five if the nine to five is not serving you. and you now have got the total leverage to say like this is what I need as an employee. And we're now in this like new place where you, where your employer can't claim that it is any other reason apart from money or whatever. That like they have to be like, yeah, look, we managed for the last couple of months doing it this way. Like, yes, we can still keep going.

I don't know. Hopefully it can feel like an exciting opportunity to like start again differently rather than just like returning to the old way, but irreparably changed from what we've all been through. Now it's like, it's an exciting thing to be like, we're beginning again and we're beginning better and differently and smarter and kinder and doing stuff that's better for everyone rather than being like, oh, is it insane that I go to work for 10 hours a day like a mad person and never see my family?

Often we go through like nine to five jobs and we don't really ask questions. We don't really go like, oh, is there a possibility of doing this? Or could I have more reviews? so I feel more like I know where I'm going or can we maybe, could I work from home on Fridays? And we are worried that we will be let go if we ask those questions. But asking those questions will be absolutely fine. It's obviously like if you get the answer you don't like and then you throw a Benny, then sure, maybe they will let you go.

But if you approach things in a kind of reasonable way, I think it's probably now is a time to ask those questions because things are in upheaval and things are. But I do know, like, my sister's boyfriend has gone back to work and he's like an engineer. And they're just absolutely taking advantage of these people. Like they, and that's incredibly difficult and is the most stressful thing ever. Because, you know, you hear all these things about, oh, you know, well, maybe flexi working. You're like, well, yeah, lovely, but I can't. Yeah.

But I found a number that you can. So basically there's the health and safety executive in England and they've set up a help line. for coronavirus-related health and safety advice. So if you genuinely feel like your workplace is unsafe, you shouldn't be at work or the way in which you're working is, yeah, they're not distancing or they're not kind of doing all the right things, then you can try calling them. They only cover big workplaces, like schools and factories and hospitals and carehams

and like big, big places, but you can call, you can look it up, but also I'll just say it now, 0-3-0-7-8-7. And you can call them and you can kind of talk through any concerns that you have and they can tell you what rights you have. Because unfortunately, the right situation is a bit of an issue, and it does depend on the employer, and it depends how nice your employer is. But yeah, I really think as well,

if you don't have the control in terms of your workplace, well, then that's the question for you as well. Like, are you happy with that? Is that something you would like to continue? And of course, this has been a very difficult time financially for lots of people. So, like, of course, it's not like, oh, so, you know, just leave your job now. But, I mean, you could start putting things in place,

and like maybe you can think okay well in six months time I'm gonna have an I'll ask some questions I'll see if things can change if they can't I'm not okay living like this like I think it'd be very easy for people who I don't know have benefited from working from home might just go like oh it's I'm just having a bit of a it's just a bit jarring coming back into work that's why I'm so happy and you're like no but do you remember what it was like before were you really happy before and make sure that you're not just going along with things because you're like, well, I guess this is work and I hate my life. Yeah, I guess being a grown-up just means I hate being alive for 10 hours a day.

I hate, aren't we supposed to hate our job? And also, like, if your employer has proved themselves to be, like, because some employers, and obviously it's been difficult, it's been horrendous for everybody, any boss, nobody, this is new for every single person. But some people have come out of this, really taking care of their employers, employees, sorry, like, really doing their very best to look after everybody. And some people have been absolutely awful. And so, you know, you aren't bound to a terrible job. Like, you don't have to, you know, you don't have to stay there if they've proved themselves. If they've shown their true colours during this, like, you know, you owe them nothing. And if you can, like, is it possible to like that you all as employees, like, get together and you all demand something. So you burn it down to the ground.

No, that you at least like band together and be like, this is what we have decided on. Like, we're making these, you know, these choices. like this is, you know, we're feeling, you know, just shifting the power a little bit to be like, you should be in a working environment in which you feel like you can say what would be the best for you to do the best work you can. And if you don't feel like you can say that to your boss or employer, then maybe, yes, then maybe this isn't the nicest place for you to be. Sure, but keep in mind that work is work and it's all, you know, there's a lot of grass is greener, like, well, if I had, did this job, I would be, be sensible about it.

And rather than to be like, off I skip. Exactly. And don't let yourself keep dreaming of like this magical, how magical it's going to be. I remember my great friend who is a teacher was going to a new school and they had this, she was so excited about this school. And she was so excited about the idea of they had this it's called family style lunches, lunchtime. So the teachers sat with the children at lunchtime and the idea was everyone ate and talked and was at the table together. And she was like, isn't that the most magical sounding thing? And in my head I was like, mm-hmm. And then like two weeks in. She was like, if I have to go to another family lunch and I have to sit and I just want to

be alone for one minute in my day. And so it really is like, don't let yourself, even though we're like, leave anywhere that isn't making you happy. Like also don't get yourself completely, um, fantasizing about how magical everything is going to be like every workplace will have its pros and every workplace will have its cons. But just make sure your environment is not one where you're just like, well, I guess it's just 99% cons here and that's what work is. Like, you know, now is your time to restart and rethink and everybody's having this sort of back to school experience where for everyone it's not like you've been on holiday and now you're the only one coming back everybody is starting again and so you can now and your and your bosses and everybody is so now is

the time to be like these are the changes I would like to see also asking where you're working what they've put in place safety-wise like because because I've done that with the job that I might have or might not have who knows in the energy like what's so what's just basically tell me what the situation is? Like, how do you want me to get that? What do you want? Is it, is it distanced? Is everyone taking your temperature when you come in? Like, is there test upon arrival? And that's, you know, that's like a silly job. But proper jobs in terms of you are there for eight hours a day, you deserve to know what they're doing. Are they disinfecting everything? Have they disinfected the work, even the workstations at all? Like, how regularly are they

up to the cleaning? Is everyone going to be required to wear a mask indoors? Like, what is the thing? And if there's something that makes you uncomfortable, you are perfectly within your rights to request things for your own safety. That's absolutely, you know, absolutely fine. No one's going to let you go because you said, I do think we should wear masks. However, the problem is, is that, of course, you can, like, take it further. You can take action against your employment, but that's all of that is very academic and very, like, cool. And where will you be working at this point, you know? So it's like a tightrope, isn't it? Of making sure you're not losing it out, but making sure that you're not putting yourself in a position where you could lose your job.

I think err on that side, at least like trust your gut to be like, well, either way, it's a tightrope. It's a tightrope. So to talk about, I think, an issue of like your actual work, so say that you've got a wonderful safe environment, you're happy to go back, you like you and your boss, you're like, I can't wait to go back to the office. And then to discover that, that you actually are achieving absolutely nothing. And this has been the report of friends of mine who are going back to the office or even friends who are like trying to run the office

and who are just sitting there watching everyone in the room, basically just like mashing their keyboard with their hand. And then like walking around just like touching things. And then like and being like, being like, I guess we leave now. Like nobody can remember how to work. And we've gone from, you know, either being on furlough or working from home or getting like so. or trying to juggle a thousand things and looking after your kids or whatever,

to going back into the workplace and being like, I do not remember. And so I think just being complete, be going to it on, you know, as Beyonce famously says, takes 11 days to crack a habit. Did she say that? She tried to launch a sort of fitness program and said you had to do it every day for 11 days and then after you were in the habit of it after 11 days, you would start doing it. Oh, it's much more than 11 days, Beyonce. I'll tell you that for free.

I'll tell you that for nothing. Get into a habit? Bay. After 11 days, you're like, all of the 11 days, and then you have 12 days off, and then you're like, ah, I see. What's happened to it? Maybe it's 21. Either way, that's so long to get into the habit of something. So don't expect to, like, come with your neat pencil case on day one and be like, and here I go. Like, it's going to take you a long time to ease into it, and your work is going to be very slow when you're, the stuff you're creating is going to be of extremely poor quality. I was like, psychologically it's going to be bizarre, because I remember when I went freelance and then stopped working in offices, when I would occasionally, I'd occasionally go in and do shifts for like a week or something if a writer was off or, you know, someone had gone on maternity leave or something, I would like pop in for a bit. And those weeks were the weirdest because I, I don't know what it's like. I can't really like it to anything, but I'd like almost seen the other side. So then going back in felt so weird. Like, oh, I can't leave this building until 6pm. What do you mean?

Like, why? Exactly. Oh, I have to go, I've got an hour for lunch, have I? Okay, best of luck with that. Oh, no, I will be forced to finish my lunch after an hour. Okay, fine. It's just such a jarring experience. So when you go back, you will have to, you might not will, you might feel a little bit like,

what the hell? Like, why, what, I can't just beam up a job. It's a big, you've got to put a full five minutes on every day. Yeah. Yeah. And I don't think it's even mind. I think it definitely will be jarring. Like, we have been through something that is completely,

not to use the word unprecedented, because it's been used a million times, but genuinely unprecedented. No one's ever been through what we've been through before. So of course no one's got any sort of roadmap for like how to do it or like, oh yeah, this is fine. Like everyone's going to find this really very, very tough. And it's going to be, it's going to be a tricky old time.

This is from my friend Louise, who wrote. these guidelines for people coming back into work. Right. And I know, right? And I just share these two because I think there's such interesting ones. So number six and seven on the list are, it's number six, try not to judge your work and ability to cope based on how you perceive your colleagues and managers to be coping.

And number seven is try not to judge your colleagues and managers based on your work and ability to cope. So it's like, don't judge your work based on other people and don't judge other people based on your work. And so, which is like, oh, yeah, what a freeing thing to be like, don't, if you're seeing everyone else, like, either being amazing and like smashing it and you're like, oh my God, I'm doing so crap in comparison. Like, do not judge yourself by their remit. And equally, like, if don't judge your, whatever you're producing, even if that, even if you think you're doing a better job than somebody else, like, you have no idea what's going on for, for anybody. Like, do not get in the

habit of like of judging anybody or like or comparing like you are just doing this as best as you possibly can and what everyone else is doing is sort of irrelevant at this point yeah that you we always we hear loads of things and all the advice says don't look at what other people are doing you have your own your own path and with this exactly the same one of those great tips for life but actually exhausting to do for your entire life so just try and do it for this a little bit because realistically you get we can't not uh not compare for life but actually you get we can't uh not compare for long, but really try now. Definitely. Yeah, just really, really try and don't, don't come home from work and be like, oh God, Barbara, it was amazing. You're like, you've no idea what's going on with Barbara. Barbara's an idiot. I'm telling you that now. Barbara's an idiot, for God's sake. And equally, don't come back and be like, Barbara was hopeless. But like, you don't know, Barbara's got our own shit going on, you know? So, like, you know, just cut your, just cut everybody some slack, but most of all cut yourself that slack and accept that it's going to be a tough.

a tough old. Yes, and you're going to be absolutely exhausted. That is something for people I know who've gone back to work, but I forgot how tiring it was. And I know how tiring it is just because I went on the tube, I don't want to talk to that, and I was absolutely knackered. It was like I did a full day's work. So even if that was exhausting, the idea of commuting going to work, sitting in an office, doing the whole lunch thing, in the old days, what? I would go for a drink after this, or I would go to the gym. Are you? Are you? Are you? night activities. Night activities. Most days

after work. And then, and now we're in this new world where you sort of where you say like, I'm just off to the post office and that's a whole trip out. And that's it. That's an activity, you know? Although, of course, we are very much basing this on our own meandering experience

rather than if you are like, you know, you're a single... Well, basing on our own, you know, furloughed, neither of the furloughed. I furloughed myself from my own. I, I, I, I, gave myself furlough. That's very big of you, thank you much. A fantastic boss. I look after my employee. But yeah,

it's going to take us so long before we're back to that, like grabbing a bit from a bite from Pratt before going to like three different evening activities on the trot. You know, even just the commute, even just the fact that you're back, it will feel very bizarre for a bit like you're in a dream almost because it's like, you know when you haven't been somewhere for ages and then you go back there and you're like, I feel like I was here yesterday. And then you feel like weird. sense of like, I don't know, like you're in the matrix. Essentially, I feel like what

in the matrix. Yeah, it's absolutely going to feel like that. That it's, yeah, a dream state is the, we've described it fantastically, Steve. You know, you've been like, I can't believe we're here. I can't believe, I can't believe it. And so it's going to take you a while to, I don't know, believe it, baby. Believe it, baby. Oh, the very last thing is not, they, people are being very encouraging not to try and compensate for lost time by going berserk. And like, working overtime the first day you're back and feeling that sense of like, I've got to prove myself or I've got to work overtime or I've got to do these things like ease in. Yes. So please take that advice to her and do not try and compensate. It's not, you know, stop, chill out.

Ease in, baby. You're okay. You're okay. And I think you are very much not alone as so many of these episodes. It's so much about realizing that you're not on your own, that everyone else look, some people will be like, I've hit the ground running and I'm smashing it. That's fine. There's always people like that with every single element of life. But the majority of people will be feeling slightly weird, slightly uncomfortable, slightly strange. And this is a good time to see if your working environment can adapt slightly to kind of help you to see if you can maybe ease yourself in, well, can I come in like for three days a week and then I'll build up. Is that okay? Like, look at what you need. And it's always worth asking because all that will happen,

they'll go, no, and then you'll just come in every day. So, like, that's, you've not lost anything. And it can work a different way. Everything has been proved that it can work a different way. So there's no reason, you know, it can't work for the best. Yes. Maybe things won't change immediately, but you can maybe give it a deadline as to like, okay, I'm going to start like easing in the idea of maybe we could work from home one day a week. Maybe I'll start eating that at the next performance review. Maybe I'll bring that up or maybe, And Tessie, you're right when he said about, like, you know, getting other people involved in ideas like that as well. So you're not alone.

And just know that it's going to be exhausting. It's going to be tiring. And don't compare yourself to other people. And that goes throughout everything. But you don't know how people are feeling. It's a tough time. But also, I really hope that people can take it as being a hopeful time that, both on like a personal and professional level that you can take this hope to be like, okay, like how can I change my life and my work for the better?

Like, what can I do to improve this situation? Like, think of it truly as like a new, a fresh start rather than just a return. And that hopefully you feel in control and that feels hopeful and good to you rather than scary and that you make whatever steps it needs for it to feel like it's, I don't know, hopeful. Yeah, it's very well said. And also just like on Thursday at 8pm, just come on down to Twitch. Check out my book club. And we'll just like hang out.

It'll be really nice. Well done. Very hopeful. Creating a new world for yourself. Creating a new world for myself. Please do pop in and write and subscribe or leave a review for us. Also, we're on Twitter at Nobody PanicPod. And I'm at Stivian.

Yes, it's a five. I'm at Tessicoat. The email is Nobody Panicpodcast.g.com. If you want to talk about the Mayans with me, drop me an email. sure if you've got any great back-to-work tips anything that's really worked for you anything that's been awful anything you want to talk about ideas for future episodes we're all ears and thank you bronte for writing into us about this one see you next week every next week bye bye