What if the heaviness you feel at work isn’t a personal failing — but capitalism doing what capitalism does? I joined host Ellen Whitlock Baker on the Hard at Work podcast for a wide-ranging, deeply grounding conversation about why so many of us feel exhausted, disillusioned, and even heartbroken by our jobs. Together, we explore how “do what you love” culture, hustle narratives, and nonprofit martyrdom have trained us to expect meaning, identity, and emotional fulfillment from work — and how devastating it can be when those promises inevitably fall apart.
This conversation also offers a different way forward. Instead of self-care checklists or meditation apps that ask you to adapt to a broken system, we talk about grieving what we thought work would be, reclaiming agency inside imperfect conditions, and thinking collectively rather than individually. You’ll hear practical ideas like power-mapping your workplace, building community instead of self-blame, and understanding why “it’s not your fault” is both emotionally freeing and politically important.