Sitting in these hours-long meetings I wonder, why are we afraid to say what we really feel? The corporate world is made of paper mache. The veneer of formalities overlays empty conversations, with jargon exclusive to white-collars and small talk that is as satisfying as salad.
We nod without agreeing and hear without listening. We talk without meaning. Conflict is carefully sculptured into something not ugly to look at. The cracks and fissures in our working relationships are smoothed out by the sandpaper of cultural alignment.
The office mimics the stale, dust-suspended air of a sheltered barn. It is so quiet that laughter is muffled. You could hear a vitamin dissolve in a cup of water, hissing as it drowns. The sunlight is filtered and processed, and the china-white walls turn grey.
I miss the humidity of my jiujitsu gym, the realness of sweat and bodies in conflict. I miss opening the shutters to my soul. I miss the storm, honest and brutal, and how the thunder claps as loud as it pleases.
The Bearable Blog 