How to stop being Under Pressure…
I currently work as a senior copywriter at a financial company. And this company has a pretty strict “everyone works from the office” policy.
Now, to me, it’s actually easier to write from home. That’s where I’m most productive. Trying to write in an office means constant distractions that break my focus.
I worked from home for over 25 years, pre-pandemic. I was an OG homeworker.
But being on site is a requirement of the job, and it’s only a 20-minute commute, so all good.
The only thing is, I like to make my coffee in advance and take it with me because I don’t like the coffee available in the cafeteria. I make my regular black coffee, and an iced coffee with almond milk for later.
Well, this morning I didn’t have ice to make my iced coffee.
See, my freezer stopped making ice years ago, so we buy bags of ice from the grocery store.
In my house, my boyfriend Grant does the grocery shopping, but the store has also been out of ice the past few trips. What, is there an ice shortage I don’t know about?
So anyway, this morning he had to take a special trip to the convenience store just to get me some ice so I could go to work.
I sent him a few dollars through Venmo, and since you have to name every transaction, I put “Ice ice, baby!” 🧊🧊
It reminds me of my bartending days. I was a high-volume bartender at some of the hottest nightclubs in Toronto. And I developed some short-form signals with my bar back, Scotty, for those nights we were slammed.
If I ran out of ice, at first I would yell, “Scotty, ice!” Then he’d say “Molson Ice, or ice ice?” Because I ran out of Molson Ice beer almost as often as I ran out of ice to make drinks. So he had no way of knowing which ice I needed.
My most common response was, “Ice ice, Baby!”
You know… from the Vanilla Ice song. “Ice Ice Baby.” “Stop, collaborate and listen…” and all that.
Eventually, we shortened it down to “Under Pressure!”
Why?
Well, first of all because the Vanilla Ice song “Ice Ice Baby” is based on a sample from David Bowie and Queen’s “Under Pressure.”
And secondly, because we were totally under pressure in those moments! 🤪
When you feel under pressure as a writer, the best thing to do is stop. Collaborate and listen.
(OK, OK, just kidding!)
I mean… I was kidding. But now that I see it in print, that’s kind of spot on.
Yes, stop. 🛑 Yes, collaborate with your creative self. And listen to your inner writing superpower.
If you don’t know how to do that, go grab your free Writing Personality Toolkit.
When you’re ready for more, you can find it in the full Writing Personality UnVALEd Playbook.
Write on,
Heather Vale
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