Stranded on Work Hurt Island
What do you do with your work hurt?
In this newsletter
Shipwrecked by work hurt;
A NEW work hurt workshop; and
A few movie recommendations.
Shipwrecked by Work Hurt
Do you remember the treehouse in Disney’s Swiss Family Robinson? It was my dream house when I was a kid. I really didn’t care much about the movie’s plot or that Fritz was kind of dreamy. I wanted to live in that treehouse.
When they were shipwrecked on a remote island in the tropics, the Robinson family salvaged what they could from their vessel—wood, rope, and barrels—and collected natural materials from the island to build a home in the trees. It had running water in the kitchen, a skylight in one of the bedrooms, and a retractable ladder to keep the tigers out. The ingenuity and adventure captivated me.
As I reflect on the treehouse as an adult, I see it as a symbol of a family’s desire to move beyond survival. They leveraged what they had available to them—their knowledge and skills, materials from the ship, and the gifts of the island—to thrive.
Running aground on Work Hurt Island
Work hurt can leave us feeling shipwrecked—lost and alone, bruised and beaten, picking up the pieces and forging ahead while we’re barely hanging on. I created a tool called “Work Hurt Island” to help us talk about our work hurt. We may have crashed on Bully Coworker Beach. We may feel adrift in Burnout Bay. Or maybe we’re currently trekking through the barren Unemployment Plains.
This past weekend, I had a framed map of the island on my table at a local book festival and invited people to mark the places they had been. One man underlined Overwork Overlook, Underpaid Tidepools, and Burnout Bay. Another said they had been to Bad Boss Beach. When a woman asked me why I had written a book on work hurt, I told her that I had been to Unemployment Plains, Laid Off Lagoon, Bad Boss Beach, Underpaid Tide Pools, Overwork Overlook, and Burnout Bay—all by age 44. And I’m still here, trying to help others rebound from and build resilience in the wake of work hurt.
When work hurts, we can take a lesson from the Robinson family: They didn’t give up when their ship broke apart. They literally picked up the pieces, integrated them with the island’s bountiful resources, and created a new place to live and a new way to work. We too can make something out of the mess of our work hurt. It’s not easy. As with building the treehouse, we have to sift through the wreckage to find what we can salvage, scour our experience for its treasures, and bring old and new together with a spirit of creativity.
If that kind of adventure appeals to you, check out my new workshop.
New Workshop: Thriving after Work Hurt
On Wednesday, October 15 at 12:00pm ET, I’ll be offering a FREE one-hour workshop designed to help you pick up the pieces of your work hurt and use them to build a new way of approaching your life and work. Sign up here. Spots are limited.
Movies about Work Hurt
Have you noticed how many books, TV series, and movies make work hurt a central theme? Maybe it’s more obvious to me because I’m thinking about work hurt a bit more often than average, if I had to guess. Here are a few movies with prominent work hurt themes.
The Intern - Starring Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway, this film follows the story of a retiree who gets a job interning at a fashion startup. I appreciate how this film approaches ageism, workaholism, and the challenges entrepreneurs face as their businesses grow.
The Devil Wears Prada - Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway team up in this film that tells the story of an aspiring journalist who works as an executive assistant to a fashion magazine editor, who happens to be a tyrant. If you’re wondering what a toxic work culture looks like, watch this one. (This film was a book first. Author Lauren Weisberger also wrote a sequel.)
Pretty Woman - Richard Gere and Julia Roberts join together for this classic Pygmalion tale. Next time you watch it, pay attention to how Gere’s character, Edward Lewis, wrestles with how his changing values relate to his work.
In what other movies have you noticed work-hurt themes? Let me know in the comments!
As always, thanks for reading. If something in this post resonated with you, perhaps it will resonate with a friend. Please consider sharing it with them.