A Different Kind of Workday
Since we’ve just had our photo day here, we found ourselves reflecting on what we actually captured. So humor us for a bit. It might end up making sense... and maybe even get you into pottery as much as we do. We’re used to seeing work life as entertainment
on platforms like TikTok (which, to be fair, is hilarious and fun to watch). But we rarely see it as it actually feels. No filters. No staged content for views. Just a real workday, as it is. How people push through. The spontaneous moments in between. The bonds shaped by simply being in it together without trying too hard.
What We Chose to Notice
When we planned this photo day, we weren’t trying to create something new. It wasn’t about fixing anything. It was about noticing what’s already there and giving it a moment to be seen. The laughs we share when things feel a little off. The lightness that shows up in the middle of heavy days. Just... paying attention to what’s usually overlooked.
The People Who Shift you
There’s a lot of talk about how we get inspired by people at work, and it’s true, it happens all the time. If we travel back to the days of our early ancestors and take a look at this from an evolutionary perspective, the benefits of being positively connected to other people make a lot of sense. Back then we can see how human beings weren’t particularly fast or strong, and so they needed the support of other human beings in order to survive. But something shifts when you’re surrounded by people who are crafty, or just very different from you. It actually alters your brain chemistry on so many levels. It’s not loud. It’s in small things, making someone a cup of tea, lingering a bit while they’re doing their own thing, or even zoning out together when you’re both stuck in a creative block. We don’t really plan for it. But it slowly changes us. Somehow, that quiet proximity shifts us. It makes you a little more open, a little more whole, and more rounded as a person. So, when we’re procrastinating at work or zoning out, all it takes is a simple act of slowing down. That might be all we need to revive ourselves a bit when we feel lost in the life we’re trying to build.
When Everything Speeds Up
Nevertheless, when you read it like that, it may sound as dreamy as we wish it were. But, work moves fast. Days blur. And those small moments can slip through your fingers. Sometimes to the point where slowing down feels unrealistic, like a version of contentment that doesn’t quite exist. And that’s where it gets heavy. Burnout isn’t rare anymore. It’s something most of us experience, sometimes multiple times. At some point, it stops being a concept and becomes something you feel. And it’s often not laziness at all. Maybe it's what happens when we've spent too long looking ahead. Chasing the next milestone, the next version of ourselves, the future we once carried so vividly that a part of us seemed to live there already. We all know that look, that distant focus, that determination that kept us at the workshop or in the office a little longer. But when every thought is fixed on what's next, it's easy to lose sight of what's right in front of us.
So how do we cope when that feeling creeps in?
Maybe not by pushing harder, but by paying closer attention. When things feel dull or disconnected, we've found that it helps to return to what's right in front of us. To notice the craft again. To watch someone shaping clay on the wheel, completely absorbed in what they're making. To appreciate the rhythm of hands repeating a process they've done hundreds of times before. To look up from our own thoughts and reconnect with the people and work around us. There’s something grounding about it. It reminds us that progress isn't always dramatic, and inspiration doesn't always arrive as a breakthrough. Sometimes it comes from simply being present enough to notice what's already happening. And perhaps that's the balance we're all trying to find: not forcing ourselves to push through when it's clearly not working, but also not giving up on something we genuinely care about. Sometimes the best thing we can do is slow down, pay attention, and trust that the next step will reveal itself through the work.
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