You Still Have Work To Do
How to keep creating —when the world is on fire, everything’s breaking and your nervous system is screaming.
So, reader, I’m all for being upbeat — and this post is about how we continue to create together in the community.
When your calm feels like a betrayal, and your joy feels like a crime, it can be overwhelming.
The world is chaotic, your mind is overloaded, and yet you’re still expected to build something meaningful.
This isn’t just a productivity pep talk; it’s a genuine guide to staying human, grounded, and present — especially when guilt starts to creep in.
Why Your Calm Isn’t a Crime
I woke up this morning with that familiar weight.
The one that sits on your chest before your eyes even open.
Gaza. Ukraine. Sudan. The US government and Elon.
My phone buzzes with another message from a friend in London dealing with rising hate crimes.
And here I am in Vigo, under blue skies so perfect they feel obscene.
The contrast is fucking brutal sometimes.
I’m eating less these days. Walking more.
I’ve stopped using my phone after 8 PM.
I make a point of reading a book before bed now.
And I sleep the best I have in years.
I wake up clear-headed.
And somehow, that makes the guilt worse.
The Existential Overhead Is Crushing Right Now
Emily and I discussed this on the Coworking Values Podcast.
She described the “existential overhead” we all carry — the emotional weight of everyday life, amplified by political chaos, global injustice, and the stuff we still have to do regardless.
- It’s not just the usual stuff — the meal planning, the invoices, the deadlines.
- It’s Syria. It’s Sudan. It’s the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- It’s Armenia. Manipur. Zimbabwe. Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- It’s knowing that in Azerbaijan, Armenian POWs are suffering while we debate marketing strategies.
- It’s the Kurdish region of Turkey. It’s Serbia. It’s Kosovo.
And if I’m honest, I had to look most of those up.
Not because they matter less.
But because Western media taught me what to grieve and what to scroll past.
That’s where #Supercoolwife comes in.
She grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
I grew up still being taught that the sun never set on the British Empire.
One of us understands geopolitical power.
The other thinks marmalade is a foreign policy.
#Supercoolwife had to point most of these out to me.
Again.
This week in Buenos Aires
In Buenos Aires this week, thousands marched against cuts to disability services and the freezing of vital payments.
ANDIS — the national agency meant to uphold disability rights — has become a symbol of neglect and cruelty.
Its director reportedly said:
“If you had a child with a disability, it’s the family’s problem, not the State’s.”
FFS - That line alone tells you everything about the state’s priorities.
And why so many of us feel like the floor is giving out beneath our feet, in so many places in the world.
London Is Always in My Pocket
I haven’t lived in London since 2022, but I go back every few months, and it never really leaves me.
It lives in my group chats.
In the link, my mat’s forward. In the background noise of my everyday.
- Friends often message about the cost of everything.
- The nursery fees don’t leave room for rent.
- The travel card now feels like a luxury.
- The £3.50 coffee that used to be a treat now feels like a mistake.
- The sense that living there costs more than its worth.
Half of you reading this live in or near London.
You don’t need breaking news to know something’s broken.
It’s not just vibes — it’s structure.
London is fracturing along wealth lines, and the middle class is no longer buffered.
You’re not poor enough for support.
You’re not rich enough to buy safety.
You’re just... squeezed.
Quietly, constantly, and without much sympathy.
Wealth inequality isn’t a line on a report —
It’s in the pram, you can’t afford to push on the bus.
It’s 50% of your income that disappears into rent.
It’s in the grammar school your kids can’t get into, the therapy you can’t afford or the library that doesn’t open, the freelance gig that still hasn’t paid.
It’s in the daily trade-offs: commute or childcare, coffee or heating, time or dignity.
Even “doing everything right” — degree, career, side hustle, connections — isn’t enough to get ahead anymore.
Because the ladder’s been pulled up. The rules changed. The city turned.
This isn’t a side issue.
It’s the issue.
It’s why some boroughs thrive while others teeter on collapse.
Why the richest areas hoard resources while neighbouring councils edge toward bankruptcy.
Why every small thing — a shop closing, a rent increase, a silent train carriage — feels heavier than it should.
This is a story of structural inequality, told through household budgets, burnout, and a thousand quiet moments when London no longer feels like home.
Emily Feels It More Than I Do
She’s in Ohio right now with a family, under political tension thick enough to chew.
“I have to go put my feet in the dirt and feel the sunshine on my face and ground myself in my body and remind myself that this is where I am. This is what is happening. This is who I am. This is what I’m experiencing.”
It’s not wellness fluff.
It’s survival.
Of course, it’s easy to squeal with laughter at Trump and Elon like it’s a bad dystopian movie.
But they are implementing one of the most dangerous forces the world has ever known — Christian White Supremacy, which is operating at full speed inside the US government.
This isn’t a fringe idea.
It’s law-making.
It’s book bans.
It’s censoring education.
It’s forced births and erased identities wrapped in scripture and power.
I grew up in a Christian environment.
Personal faith is an integral part of the human experience, whatever your brand.
But it’s the religion-as-power bit that's a shit storm.
That’s what breaks everything.
Resentment Is the Stickiest Trap
Being angry isn’t the problem.
Being stuck in anger is.
I’ve been watching myself get caught in this loop lately.
Raging at the politicians, the systems, the apathy.
It’s very tempting to self-destruct in active anger.
To burn it all down because what’s the fucking point anyway?
But the only one who gets hurt when I don’t move is me.
Everyone else carries on.
While I sit in my fortress of justified rage.
The Vigo Bubble Feels Like Cheating
Living here in Galicia, with its endless blue skies, can sometimes feel like a betrayal.
The sun is on my face while Gaza burns.
The fresh seafood while Sudan starves.
The peaceful streets, while friends in London text me about rising tensions.
It creates its own kind of tension.
Its own flavour of guilt —
I find myself apologising for being okay.
For having moments of joy.
For continuing to build while others are just trying to survive.
This Isn’t Wellness Content. It’s Survival.
When we talked about grounding, Emily didn’t sugarcoat it:
“No, it's not that simple. It has taken a lot of practice.
Sometimes it takes hours—days—to get into the right mindset before I can move forward on a project.”
This isn’t Instagram wellness bullshit — it’s the raw, messy reality of trying to function when your heart is breaking for the world.
When you’re neurodivergent, the chaos is both external and internal.
When you know your privilege is showing, but you still have to get up and do the work.
My Rhythm Is Embarrassingly Simple
– Daily walks
– Less sugar
– Reading a real book before bed
– No phone after 8 PM
A few months ago, I set cut-off timers on my devices.
No more late-night scrolling.
No more emotional whiplash before sleep.
I read.
I rest.
I wake up calm.
That small ritual gives me just enough distance to feel the resentment, without becoming it.
And most days, there’s one more thing that helps me move:
“My day doesn’t start till I’ve written 750 words.”
“Especially when I’m anxious or lost or haven’t talked to anyone I can’t do anything until I’ve written those words!”
It sounds dramatic.
But it’s not about the writing.
It’s about routine beating overwhelm.
A small action that sets the day in motion.
Some days I miss it.
Some days it doesn’t work.
But most days, it’s the difference between moving forward and melting down.
What Emily Said About Neurodivergence Matters
“If you work with your neurodivergent, you don’t fight it... you can use parts of it for strengths.”
We have to work with the brains and hearts we have.
Not the ones we wish we had.
Not the ones that could process global trauma without shutting down.
Not the ones that could save the world if they just tried harder.
🧭 Bernie’s Picks
📚 A Book That Won’t Let Me Go
Bad Daughter by my friend Sangeeta Pillai — Out September 2025.
✅ Pre-order it directly with Apple or Google Pay here.
She writes about growing up in a Mumbai slum, surviving a violent home, and the unimaginable loss of her mother — all while refusing to let the fire in her belly go out.
I’ve known Sangeeta since 2018. We met at Write Club in a London coworking space, long before her HUGE Masala podcast took off.
Reading her book is both inspiring and heart-wrenching, punctuated with references to food.
Sangeeta’s story is brutal, but the language is clear and spellbinding.
The way Sangeta uses words reminds me of Maya Angelou, David Goggins, and Primo Levi, who share their horrors with calm, powerful clarity, yet without drama.
Her story stays with me between sessions, and I listen to the book transcript via an AI-generated voice on Voice Dream Reader, and I still cry as I listen.
I can feel how this book is going to unleash a movement that has been growing with her podcast for the last five seasons. 💪🏽
✅ Pre-order it directly with Apple or Google Pay here.
🎧 Podcast – Permission to Keep Going
This entire newsletter originated from a conversation in an episode on the .
Emily and I recorded this episode on a day when neither of us felt particularly strong.
We discussed existential overhead, grounding, and how to work with our neurodivergent minds, rather than against them.
If this newsletter gave you even a moment of clarity or comfort, the podcast will help you go deeper.
📓 Tool – Hero On A Mission
This planner keeps me aligned with my 12-week-year goals.
But more importantly — I read it every single day.
Before email. Before the news. Before any other internet shit.
It’s how I just about stay rooted!
And when I use it, I move - oh, and it is free!
📚 Bonus Reading – Living in Truth by Václav Havel
My dear friend Jeannine recommended this for American friends freaking out about the political situation.
It’s short, clear, and sharp about ’living in modern unfreedom’ — the kind of truth that sticks when the noise won’t stop.
To get to the point, I popped this YouTube video into GoogleNotebookLM
The Only Way Through Is Together
You’re not selfish for feeling joy.
You’re not broken for needing rest.
You’re not wrong for being okay.
What the world needs now isn’t more outrage.
It’s people who know how to stay present.
To move with shaky hands.
To build while grieving.
To resist without self-destructing.
You’re not a spectator.
You’re a citizen.
And your presence matters.
This is your permission to keep going.
Not to fix it all.
But to stay human in the middle of it.
✍️ Written in Vigo, after a very long walk, a double espresso at Club De Café, and this version of Bowie’s “Conversation Piece.”
Two things for you!
📧 Free Email Course – 5 Mistakes Coworking Community Builders Make
18 June is our next Unreasonable Connection, a monthly online, informal, and open event for people who own or run coworking spaces, providing an opportunity for them to connect.
🎟️ RSVP here.
Thank you for your time and attention today — Bernie 💚
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