Soft Bodies, Hard Jobs
Reflections on the heartbreak & hilarity of earning a living in Amerika
65 jobs (and counting)
It started out as a question: Why has it been so difficult to earn a living doing work that is satisfying, rewarding, meaningful and pays well?
Even the phrase “earn a living” is problematic. What do you mean I need to “earn” my life? Sounds like we might have a systemic problem here in America, no? Oh look, another billionaire for us to aspire to be like (insert fart sound). I’ll just be over here stewing in the fear of survival (insert thunderous stadium roars), hoping my daily mantras and deep breathing will keep me sane.
So I dialed up my curiosity and went back to the beginning. I compiled a list of every job I’ve ever had, starting with the first time I exchanged time and effort for money: a classic childhood allowance—perhaps the beginning of what we used to call The American Dream: Work hard and be rewarded. I wanted to look closely at how I got here and uncover why it all felt just a bit off. Because it was becoming clear that the idea of working hard was simply not enough.
And then I sat with it. And continue to do so during the writing and editing process.
The point of it all—this website that connects to the book, the virtual talk group, the Substack—is to turn pain into purpose and hopefully inspire folks along the way to have these conversations with themselves and within their communities. Or at least to dial up curiosity around their own relationship to earning a living in Amerika, zooming out to inquisitively observe all the ways it intertangles with our lives.
Like the saying goes, we’re all just walking each other home. Or, as I would retell it: FUCK. What the FUCK is going on?! Do you feel crazy too?
(cue the Real World intro)
Welcome to my corner of the internet, my little universe.
It’s all an experiment.
As of Summer-Autumn 2026, the writing continues between working full-time and making room for spaciousness. Let’s see what happens next. 60,000 words and counting…
Image of my mom’s bedside table with a photo of her and her mom, my grandmom. I wonder what they would say about their relationship to earning a living? Henrietta lives with dementia and Helen transitioned from the Earthly plane in 1997. My Gram Helen, as we called her, was my favorite member of the family. Gram, I’m sorry I cheated at Uno.
So what’s the book about?
Part occupational memoir, part reality check, Soft Bodies, Hard Jobs dives headfirst into the muck of earning a living in Amerika—not to offer neat business advice or top 10 productivity hacks, but to open an honest, unfiltered conversation about who we are outside of what we produce. Tracing a personal timeline from teenage hourly jobs through multiple career pivots—all set against the backdrop of a changing world—the book examines an entire human life through the prism of work, threading cultural commentary with an intimate exploration of the hilarities, heartbreaks, necessities, and hidden patterns that shape our path. Ultimately, it serves as a dedicated pause to remind us that while the necessity to earn a living is undeniable, it is only one part of our story—and our legacy. Written for the seekers demanding heartfulness in a world obsessed with grind, Soft Bodies, Hard Jobs is an invitation to get honest, reflect, and confront a question we rarely make time to ask: How do we make room for a whole, meaningful life when earning a living takes up so much space?