No Dumping (Don't let workplace toxicity spill over to your family.)

Musing for:

No Dumping

You don’t want to be on the cover of this magazine.

The March 20, 1954 edition of The Saturday Evening Post featured an art piece entitled “Anger Transference” by Richard Sargent. In four frames, it depicts a manager yelling at an employee, that employee yelling at his wife, the wife yelling at their child, and the child yelling at a kitten.

As my wife and I walked around the block yesterday, I noticed a message on the manhole cover of the storm sewers in the side of the road.

“No dumping,” it reads.

And there’s a picture of a fish.

Why? The storm sewer carries water directly to the stream, where fish and other wildlife depend on clean water for survival.

When you’re unable to avoid receiving toxic treatment at work, please don’t carry it home and dump it on there, poisoning your family.

Here are a few tips to help you detox before you greet your family:

✅ Listen to non-work-related podcasts or music on the commute home.

✅ Deliberately think about what you’re grateful for. Consider keeping a journal.

✅ If you work from home, create a buffer of time and space between the end of your work day and your contact with family. Set and maintain boundaries to keep work and family time/space separate.

✅ Find a safe space to combine venting and seeking creative solutions, without over-dwelling on the negative.

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