Walking & Chewing Gum
Setting changes everything for me,
the way twelve hours in an office
is unique from commuting or teleworking
or a work trip
or a day off
or a day caregiving.
Setting is the distance
between serenity and panic.
Setting is the container,
and there are distinctions.
When containers attract me unexpectedly
I wonder about my motivation.
Introspectively I look inward,
and if preservation isn’t signaled
I uncoil,
seeing if I feel relaxed.
Flurries of thunder sound periodically
and raindrops seem to flick the glass.
Our positive characteristics of work
carry a theme:
momentum
sustained
productive
full.
Workers are eager,
inspired,
hungry,
walking on the balls of their feet
at a speed that has to be fast.
I can do all of those things,
but how would I describe myself?
Deliberate.
Sincere.
Analytical.
In a healthy container, creative.
In an unhealthy container, manic.
In any container, the stability.
In this container,
intrigued by how we describe places.
In this container, conscious of how I use quiet.
I listen to the brewing storm near in time.
Nearer in distance too.
My thought continues like no interruption happened…
how we suggest that work is more about people than places and how they’re set up.
How we problemetize people
before we reconstruct atmospheres.
When we remove outcomes
instead of inputs.
Who speaks
and why.
Fizzling out of my habits
is filtering,
while my face becomes
more difficult to read.
Alas,
it comes down to interpretation.
Driven by unobserved settings
that we devote too little attention to,
and somehow our complete immersion.