02/06/2025
A word of encouragement for the civilian employees who are returning to the office tomorrow.
I know you are experiencing a lot of emotions right now. You may be one of the workers who are excited and are looking forward to being back around people again. You may be one of the workers who are anxious, afraid, and may even feel physically ill over facing the unknowns of workspaces, traffic, and new people.
Regardless of where you may fall in the spectrum of emotions about the return to in person work, remember these few truths. You will be surrounded by other humans that are doing the same thing you are doing tomorrow. You will not be alone. Lean into the coworkers around you, encourage each other and help your fellow human. Crack a joke, look for a bright side, share a snack, heck, take lots of chocolate tomorrow and the rest of the month and spread it around.
Most importantly, if you are finding that this is hard, take a minute to think back on some of the adversities that you have been through in life. Many of you have been through divorces, deaths, losses of all sorts, and you have made it.
You are stronger than you think and you can rise to the challenge of change and adversity. You did it once when the world shut down in 2020, you can do it again in 2025. You can do hard things.
~Lori
