January: Michelle

What.

A.

Week.

I’ll tell you something, I should have known I’d go slightly crazy on my week off. I haven’t had a break in FOREVER. Spa days, self-care, an evening down the pub with my mates – I did it all.

I even went and had a cupcake for lunch. A literal cupcake. Strawberry-flavoured. Delicious. All the nutritional value of a dirty sock.

And now we’re on Sunday. My last day of freedom before I’m back at work. And I’m…

Eh, I’m not really looking forward to it. I try to stay positive, and most of the time I succeed, but work’s been frankly rubbish lately. It’s always a balancing act when you’re in management, and I can say, hand on heart, I do have it worse than most.

Linda gets it. She’s my best friend at the office. She knows how hard it is to be a woman in management. She knows the juggling flaming chainsaws whilst walking on a knife-edge I stuck myself with when I took this job. She was the one who told me to take a break already. Be selfish for once in my life.

I’ve no idea how much she understands. We both know it’s hard to be women in management. But she’s white, reasonably thin, and completely normal. I’m… not. I’m literally none of those things. I’ve had to put up with a lot to get where I am. And nothing, nothing, will come between me and enjoying my life.

But that’s not the point. I put on my headphones and enjoy my last day of being myself before I go back to work and pretend to be neurotypical.