Be Content With Bee Content
Issue 80 isn't all about bees
Greetings, dear ones. How I’ve missed you. I fear this newsletter is too long, but you’re adults, so I trust you’ll skip ahead if you’re bored. Let’s proceed…
My heart was heavy today. I had feelings that needed to move. I wrote this newsletter and allowed them to do their thing.
We don’t welcome sadness nearly enough. When we don’t feel our feelings, they stagnate and fester—a hard shell forms to cover the pain we can’t release. This works for a time, but never forever and rarely for long.
So, cry, yell, punch, kick, scream, throw a damn tantrum—just don’t do it AT someone unless they’ve given you permission (hello, my anger-release friend, Arthur).
You can also write, as I’m doing here (though maybe not quite so publicly :)
Our feelings must move through us. As easy as that sounds, it’s terribly difficult. We’re trained to do the opposite. Most of us have no idea what it means to feel. Not to worry, you need’t feel bad about not feeling. Simply listening to this truth is powerful. We can work on the rest later.
So, why am I sad? I’m sad because six months ago I was let go from a company I believed in. It was sudden. I described the experience as being on a road trip with excellent friends, singing road-trip songs, sipping juice (without the gin) when someone reached around, unlocked the door, and shoved me out. The car kept going and the founders switched to a new tune.
Hitting the concrete hurt. Watching them drive away hurt. It all hurt. We were friends (but this is business!). The yacht I wrote about last week—I was on that with them. We experienced something remarkable together. We planned the future of the company. We solidified the values. We snorkeled. We pinky promised we’d be together forever (we didn’t, but it’s good effect :)
Shortly before I was tossed out, a new sheriff joined the team and became my boss. I prefer partners to bosses, but beggars can’t be choosers. I inherited a boss and she inherited me. While I’m not everyone’s cup of tea, I have integrity. I work with soul, prioritizing genuine connection with customers above all else.
For a time, she was the company’s gin. She sold herself as the elixir. The missing ingredient. A good time, with great results, better looks, sales, and everything… except integrity (oh, and quality).
Guess what? They bought it!
Integrity is one of the first things to go when you’re drunk on gin or otherwise. You’re teased into believing the answer is elsewhere—in a new hire, a new lover, a shiny new object. For a time it can be, but rarely for long.
Sadness is arising in me today because the company and many friends I made throughout my time with them, begins a multi-week experience tomorrow. I recall the excitement. The fun. The entirely new world I experienced when I first met these folks. The purity of that time is gone. It’s both totally okay, and sad. Both can be true. That’s the other thing about emotions—opposing ones can be true at the same time—making it even harder to understand.
Recently I learned my former boss, the woman in my story, is no longer with the company. Someone saw the light. Hopefully, many people. I’m heartened not because she lost her job, but because I witnessed a difficult-to-swallow side of a company I admired six months ago, and today a bit of respect is restored.
I wish them and everyone amongst them a great deal of success! Without them, I would not have this newsletter, many of my readers, and dozens of friends in faraway places. Also without them, I do have new clients, epic creative partnerships, time to write, be with my significant other, myself, and my kids.
In the end, we’re all happier, but that doesn’t mean it can’t also be sad.
PS: There are infinite sides to any story. But because this is my newsletter, I get to tell it my way. So there!
Finally, Bee Content
There’s so much to tell you. Stephen is a third-generation bee keeper, tending to the baby beasts since he was ten.
On Saturday, he welcomed two new hives. We spent the day in his yard witnessing his skills and the overwhelmingly cool nature of the bees.
His new hives have roughly 10,000 female worker bees, 50 male drones, and one queen. By the end of summer, the hive will be about 100,000 workers, 500 drones, and one queen.
Worker bees have many jobs: polinators, nurses, custodians, and bouncers, to name a few. Drones mate with the queen, don’t sting, and die after they’ve had their turn. The queen, well she’s quite the powerhouse. The hive is at her command. She lays thousands of eggs each day, tended to by her nurse bees, and courted by the drones.
This is just the tiniest taste of what there is to know. I’m learning too.
I’ll be sharing more as we go. If you’re an Instagrammer, Stephen goes all out here. Otherwise, stick around and I’ll post more content here and on Substack Notes.
Never underestimate the importance of bee content, and being content.
I Rest My Case
This case converter is a lot more helpful than you’d think. It helps me write correctly in Title and Sentence case (and likely other things I don’t use it for). It’s not sexy, but it helps!
Bully Stick It to ‘Em
This week I spoke with two friends whose daughters have been bullied at school. When this happens, when I hear from multiple people on the same subject, I know it’s time to share a resource.
You know I’m a huge fan of Dr. Becky Kennedy for all things parenting. Her podcast episode on bullying is validating, helpful, and important—whether your child is being bullied or not.
If there’s a parent in your network who would find this reco beneficial, please share.
Insert cliche: “It takes a village.”
Crabby Pants 🦀
I hope I blow your mind with this factoid.
Spongebob Squarepants is based on nuclear testing conducted by the US on Bikini Atoll, from 1946–1958. Sea life was ruined and chaos ensued, in real life. Spongebob and his friends are deformed creatures living with the aftermath of the explosions.
They’re a mess! The cartoon takes place on Bikini Bottom. The real-life episodes took place on Bikini Atoll, a coral reef in the Marshall Islands, between Hawaii and the Philippeans.
Don’t believe me, read up on the topic. Do believe me, woah!
This Is Hilarious
I don’t use TikTok, but that didn’t stop me from watching this multiple times. When I showed it to Owen, who’s 14, he said, “There are a lot funnier things on TikTok.”
No doubt, but at 46, this works just fine.
Yours truly, madly, deeply, Simone
Please don’t be like me and drink coffee while walking.
We don’t want to spend the day in stained trousers.
I recently had a lice situation. My 8 year old got it, where? No clue. It was the 2nd time. All I can say is stay calm, hire the professionals and let it go. Life goes on it’s not worth all the stress. And they die off the head in 48 hrs so the best advice rather then clean your house upside down is go to a hotel for 2 nights and and forget about it.