Embracing the end-of-year crazies
By Sarah
I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to feel like I’m losing my mind. Properly. And sometimes in a good way.
People have been sharing that “one month til Christmas Eve” meme this week but, for me, it might as well be Christmas already. My brain is done with this year. I can feel it walking out the door, probably on its way to the beach. So it’s a good thing we only have about a million things to get through before we close for two magnificent weeks. #blessed
Our office – an awesome co-working space – has started dissolving into that unique brand of madness that emerges on a Friday afternoon in late November when everyone has juuuuust about reached their limit.
Here’s the thing: if you try and separate yourself from it and soldier on, not only will you drive yourself crazy anyway, you’ll miss out on some unexpected insights into your colleagues’ lives. And psyches.
What to do? Embrace it. And the following activities:
Dance breaks
These have long been a tradition at Pomegranite. Shake it off. If you don’t feel like a full-on dance break, opt for a chair dance. Almost as effective and you don’t have to stop typing. The quality of the words that emerge from your fingers I cannot vouch for.
Facebook “research”
It started out as a “look at the amazing moustache I once grew” (not me, you guys), and quickly escalated into lets-all-find-the-most-embarrassing-picture-of-ourselves-on-Facebook. And before long I was four years deep on the profile of someone I only know vaguely, trawling through their wedding album.
TIP: Whatever you do, do not accidentally like a photo when “researching” four years deep. As Angela Mary Claire pointed out on Twitter, it’s the same sort of feeling as calling your teacher “Mom”.
Key understandings
Do you even know what character you would be on Downton Abbey? Best you get to the bottom of that, stat.
Pull up a chair
It’s best when it happens organically (also – how tired are you of that word, social media?). Last Friday, everyone just sort of congregated in an open space and started talking rubbish and the stories started flowing. This is when the magic happens. I won’t disclose the gems that emerged from this chat – I still have to work here and would like to get out alive – but man… I feel a lot closer to these people than I used to.
Warning: All these activities will probably result in a last-minute scramble to get through all your work. The trick is to make sure that everyone else has to stay and work with you, so try and involve as many people as possible in your procrastination. It’s the only way.
