What if your resentment is actually useful?

What are you pissed off about right now?

I mean it. Because there are a lot of reasons to feel pissed off these days. And your work life is likely piling it on, too. 

Some of what I hear a lot of: last-minute requests, carrying way more than your share ‘because you’re so good at it.’ All the shifting expectations, sometimes blatantly. Other times, it’s the invisible rules no one told you about. The shock when people you work with show you exactly who they are. 

With all the layers of bullshitery in the world, folks can’t push it down anymore or compartmentalize. So in this month’s workshop, we’re doing it differently.

We’re using resentment and anger as data. Because underneath frustration is usually violated boundaries and values and experiences of betrayal in a system that isn’t operating the way it promised.

As an organizational sociologist, I’m here to say, systems aren’t neutral, and they never have been. They have agendas, and it’s rarely staff and faculty-focused. The other thing I’ll add, as a scholar of higher education, is that academia isn’t benevolent. And for those of you in for- and non-profits, that people-centered mission actually functions within narrower limits than you thought. And it isn’t going to suddenly become fair, especially not without resistance and some good civil disobedience.

So what do you do with these truths?

You learn how to:

• Navigate hidden priorities without losing yourself

• Reduce your over-reliance on institutions

• Build support and structure outside of them

Think of it like this:

You’re sick of increasing grocery store prices. But you don’t stop going to the store and buying food; you strategize based on your capacity, values, and future action. Maybe you shift where you get your food - maybe it’s a combo of a co-op or small grocer and farm stand. Then you find a small area in your yard or patio and start growing a vegetable and some herbs you love. You chat with a neighbor who has an established garden and offer to do some weeding in exchange for some harvest.

Want support learning how to do that? Let’s connect.