A Cup of Ambition is a weekly newsletter filled with thought-provoking essays, interviews, links, and reflections on all things related to working motherhood.
This is such good reflection. I don't like the term but I'm here for the concept of setting boundaries and not allowing the job to be our lives anymore. I'm a teacher. This has been a necessary move in education for a LONG time and more teachers are embracing it now.
Agreed. Teachers--especially those who are also parents--are constantly caring for others. Boundaries are SO important for those of us who are constantly serving others.
I agree with the person who called this out as a boundaries issue -- people DO need good boundaries around and at work, and if you work for a company that pushes them or outright violates them, then maybe calling it "quiet quitting" is a way back to a reasonable line in the sand.
I would never say I quietly quit when I had children, nor that I do any version of this now. But I definitely have peaks and valleys throughout the year -- times when I go above and beyond and work my ass off, and times when I just do what I am supposed to do and nothing more. I don't really see this is abnormal, much less a shade of "quitting" -- workflow ebbs and flows. And maybe if you're constantly in a state of flow, with neverending output that takes everything out of you, it's worthwhile to consider what that's costing you, how long you can (or want) keep it up, and what a better boundary might look like for you, whether that means quiet quitting or quitting for real.
Great piece! So much of this sounded like our conversation! Thank you.
This is such good reflection. I don't like the term but I'm here for the concept of setting boundaries and not allowing the job to be our lives anymore. I'm a teacher. This has been a necessary move in education for a LONG time and more teachers are embracing it now.
Agreed. Teachers--especially those who are also parents--are constantly caring for others. Boundaries are SO important for those of us who are constantly serving others.
I agree with the person who called this out as a boundaries issue -- people DO need good boundaries around and at work, and if you work for a company that pushes them or outright violates them, then maybe calling it "quiet quitting" is a way back to a reasonable line in the sand.
I would never say I quietly quit when I had children, nor that I do any version of this now. But I definitely have peaks and valleys throughout the year -- times when I go above and beyond and work my ass off, and times when I just do what I am supposed to do and nothing more. I don't really see this is abnormal, much less a shade of "quitting" -- workflow ebbs and flows. And maybe if you're constantly in a state of flow, with neverending output that takes everything out of you, it's worthwhile to consider what that's costing you, how long you can (or want) keep it up, and what a better boundary might look like for you, whether that means quiet quitting or quitting for real.
Aha. That felt good!