#62: My Office Thanksgiving
gratitude circles, community, and a lot of pie
Each year, my clinic shuts down for a few hours to cater a Thanksgiving lunch for us. It’s a time we all enjoy and has become something we all genuinely look forward to. A nice reprieve from patient visits.
Chatter arises as we push the lobby chairs up against a few fold out tables that my office manager decorated with autumnal leaves and acorn decor. You can smell the food ready for us to devour. Turkey, potatoes, stuffing, fresh bread, fruit, green beans, cranberry, and about 3-4 different types of pie. I hear they got the “good” option this year, as we can only choose from a select few vetted caterers that our company will allow us to get. Apparently, this year’s selection of feast is better than ever.
Before we line up to fill our bellies, we gather round the lobby. Each of us lined up next to each other in a large circle. There’s about 25 of us in total- from providers to MAs to community healthy workers and pharmacists and therapists and the whole lot of support staff.
All in wait… but not just for the food.
We are all eagerly ready to listen to each person’s list of what they are thankful for this year. As is tradition, one by one, we go around the circle and share what we are grateful for this year. There’s almost always one person who reveals a pregnancy announcement (I haven’t been to a Thanksgiving lunch without a pregnancy announcement yet!), often a person or two who will shed a tear, plenty of people revealing a few hardships that they overcame this year, and certainly many lists consisting of gratitude for family and friends.
But, the most consistent gratitude item of all, that is said by almost every person, in such heartfelt, personal, and touching ways is how grateful we all are to work at our clinic, with our coworkers, taking care of our patients, in this city, with our two hands and two feet, every day, doing what we feel put on this earth to do.
“I’ve been a nurse for almost 30 years and I’ve never in my wildest dreams, thought I could be so lucky to work here.”
“It doesn’t even feel like I’m going to work, really… it’s kind of like I’m going to see my best friends every day.”
“My favorite part about this clinic is that we all feel called to be here. It really is a servant hearted place.”
“This job has saved me in more ways than I could ever describe this year, as my dad went through stage 4 cancer.”
“Every day, I’m honored to be a part of this team and this work.”
“I couldn’t be more grateful for my coworkers- you guys just inspire me.”
“I’m grateful ya’ll are good cooks. I’ll never go hungry here!”
“I feel blessed that God placed me at this clinic. The way we care for patients… it feels like we’re doing it right.”
“This place feels like home. Heck, I’m with you guys more than my family! But really, it feels like I’m coming home every day.”
On and on and on it goes. Almost all 25 of us share the same sentiment, in different ways.
The cynic in you might think “don’t people feel pressured to say something like that if everyone else is?” or “surely they hate something about the clinic” or “no place of work is that good”. I get it.
But I don’t think so. Being there, hearing everyone speak for 15 minutes. I don’t know, it gives me a feeling that I have a hard time even writing about.
The annual round robin of gratitude in our tiny lobby around our makeshift Thanksgiving table feels like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. It feels important. It feels aligning. It feels like a depth and sureness that I don’t have in many other areas of my life but boy do I feel like this place and these people are right.
It feels holy.
I think there is a new way of thinking in younger generations (mine included) about work and career- this way of thinking says that work is just work; a means to an end. Sure, you should like it, but you don’t need to find your whole identity there, or spend your whole life striving there, or have it be such a thing in your life. You can see your job as something that earns you money, an outlet for personal development and growth, and something that allows you to have flexibility and balance to enjoy other aspects of your life outside of work.
I love this view. I do. I think deemphasizing what someone does for a living is a healthy thing for our society to move towards. I think taking your whole identity out of your career, again, is healthy. I think an emphasis on work life balance and personal fulfillment in career is a sustaining approach to work.
However, as you can guess, I also think seeing work as a calling, and being moved to tears by your coworkers, and feeling a greater purpose for your daily job, and somehow having your work not only not feel like work, but also feel acutely more, to you- bringing with it a sense of wellbeing, a sense of community, or of actual joy- I think this way of working can also be beautiful and important. I love this view too.
I’m not sure your career needs to give you this sense of gratitude, and I’m almost certain 99% of work environments won’t be as life-giving as my current one is, but I do think knowing what you need out of your career and out of your work environment is helpful. If you need a lot from it (me), then finding a job that has gratitude circles on Thanksgiving is incredible! If you need it to be good but not everything to you, that’s wonderful too! If you really don’t want to think about your job, much, if at all, then awesome.
I’ve said this a million times, but working in healthcare (or really any “helping” profession) often brings with it a sense of calling. Rarely do we stumble into these positions. They often need years of discernment, preparation, extra schooling, and special degrees. They are purposeful.
Purposefulness inherently breeds a depth which often brings with it a sense of calling and meaning making. This is all something I’ve felt personally, and have known objectively, but was so moving to see spoken out through my coworkers on a chilly Wednesday afternoon in our old, lopsided clinic, as a feast was waiting for us in the room next door.
Gratitude upon gratitude. For believing the words I heard and feeling them myself. Gratitude upon gratitude. For funny coworkers and kind patients and empathetic leaders and for a peace that is present when I’m around people who just get it.
I’m always surprised at how moved I am, every year, hearing the heartbeat of our clinic in the voices of my peers and coworkers and mentors and leaders. It’s a new joy every time I hear that 24 other people feel the exact same way I do about caring for our patients. It’s startling how beautiful it is to hear that other people feel at home here, just as I do. It leaves me speechless when everyone else also feels like we are best friends, and our patients are some of our greatest teachers, and our work matters.
It’s so nice to be around a community of people who care about what you care about.
It’s so wonderful to be near people who also believe we are making a difference, in some small minuscule way, and might just leave our community better than when we found it.
We all believe that.
What a holy thing.
I hope this season of gratitude reminds you of a community in your life- friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, interest groups, teammates- who somehow, miraculously, magically, wondrously, care about what you care about, and believe in it. Believe in you. Believe, still, in all of us. Believe, still, in this terrible, beautiful, awful, incredible world.
As always, I'm rooting for you.
Until next time,
xoxo
Marisa
1. I will be deleting social media/Instagram for the next 2-3 months to complete 75 Hard(ish). I will still be available on Substack though:) and will of course be documenting/writing about this. I’m starting in December because I just have to start… but honestly, I recommend starting January 1st instead.
2. I haven’t seen Wicked yet but it is top of my To Do List
3. Highly recommend watching all of the Harry Potter movies for the Christmas season- it’s so fun.
4. We bought our puppy a busy toy game and it’s hilarious watching her- it is supposed to keep her busy while we live our lives and get stuff done around the house, but we end up just watching her try to do the puzzle and get nothing done lol
5. Survivor is still my #1 favorite show
6. I have exactly 2 weeks to finish Fourth Wing- can I do it!?
Thank you for being here. Your readership, encouragement, and curiosity mean more than you know.
This is a beautiful essay...Holy indeed. I’ve had several appointments and trips to clinics and hospitals recently and I’ve marveled at how caring and smart the staff is in every setting. Thank you for what you do and for sharing.