After looking at my blog stats for this year, I’ve decided we need to make 2024 the year of more fun at work. Read on to find out why.
Welcome to week 46 of The Sunday Spark, a series with weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a sustainable living tip for the week. In addition to thoughts on the state of fun at work, this week’s post includes: reasons to buy local Christmas trees, sustainable tire options, and low-waste gift wrap.
The Sunday Spark will be taking a break for a couple of weeks while I enjoy some family time over Christmas. Watch for the next edition on January 7.
The Sunday Spark – Week 46
On my mind this week: Make 2024 the year of more fun at work
As I do every December, I’ve been looking at my blog stats as I prepare my year in review post. I’m always fascinated to see which blog posts get the most views. This year, a piece from 2022 has been the runaway leader—accounting for 40% of my views for the year.
In January of 2022, I put together a post to celebrate National Fun at Work Day. 25 easy ways to have fun at work today was a departure from my usual content. It was a roundup of easy and low-budget ways to inject some fun into any workplace.
Clearly this post met a need. What does it say about the state of the modern workplace that close to 20,000 people searched and found this post on my little blog?
I’d like to say I’m surprised, but I’m really not. There is definitely far less fun and laughter in the workplace than there was in the early days of my career. And we can’t just blame the pandemic and remote work. Things had changed long before March of 2020.
It’s time to turn things around! Let’s declare 2024 the year of more fun at work. Because life’s too short not to have fun.
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Three highlights of the week
It’s important to celebrate big milestones and simple pleasures in life. Keeping the trend going, here are three highlights and simple pleasures of the week gone by:
- On Saturday, I went out for an early Christmas lunch with my sister and a dear friend of ours who’s really a bonus sister. It was fun to catch up on what has been going on in our lives.
- I love asparagus but I only buy it when it’s fresh and in season. In May, after my first visit to our local asparagus farm, I made some cream of asparagus soup. I froze most of it so I could enjoy it throughout the year. This week I had a bowl for lunch, and it was so delicious. It was like spring in a bowl!
- On Thursday, the heavenly painter treated us to a beautiful sunset. It even outshone our neighbour’s Christmas lights.
Three things I learned this week
Life is all about learning. Here are a couple of things I learned this week:
It pays to buy local…even for Christmas trees!
If you’re a fan of live Christmas trees, do you consider where your tree was grown when you buy it? If you don’t, you might want to start.
Live Christmas trees often transport invasive critters to new environments. Hawaii, for example, has been the recipient of two species of invasive yellow-jackets thanks to trees imported from the US mainland. (Source: CBC What On Earth)
You can reduce the risk by buying local Christmas trees and giving them a good shake before bringing them indoors.
Sustainable tires made from dandelion rubber
Did you know that tire particles contribute about half of road-related air pollution, and they’re also finding their way into our waterways, harming marine life?
Natural rubber comes from a tree but, to meet the high demand, most tires are made from petroleum-based synthetic rubber. I was intrigued to learn this week that there are more sustainable solutions in development, including rubber latex made from the fast-growing Russian dandelion.
(Source: Earth911)
Sustainable living tip: Low-waste gift wrap ideas
By now, I hope your Christmas shopping is all done and all that remains is wrapping. While it might look pretty, most gift wrap is non-recyclable and goes straight to landfill. Check out this post for sustainable and reusable gift wrap ideas.
I’d love to hear what you think about any of this week’s topics. Drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts and ideas.
That’s really interesting to hear what your most viewed post was! Having fun at work is so essential! That’s one of the things I love about my new job. We laugh all the time and everyone just really enjoys each other. It’s a good balance of hard work and having fun 🙂
That’s so good to hear. As I look back on my career, the most memorable teams were the ones with the most laughter.
Oo, I immediately thought about that squirrel scene in Christmas Vacation when reading your tip on why it pays to buy a local tree! On a more positive note, I love your sustainable gift wrap ideas.
I know! I couldn’t get that image out of my mind when I was reading the article.
Thanks for reading, Layla!
How fun to look back and see the stats on that post. I’m in – let’s have more fun at work. Love it, Michelle!
Thanks Wynne. I was shocked to see how much of my traffic came from that single post.
Oh my goodness…what a beautiful thing to reflect upon…the stats about your ‘fun at work’ post. I think your pieces are so well-researched and thoughtfully written. I’m not surprised that one got a lot of traffic. Cheers to more of the same Michelle magic in 2024. Yes!
And entirely unrelated, I loved the use of the phrase “bonus sister”. Oh gosh, I’ve got a few of those. Love it. 🥰
It’s funny because every time I look at my stats, I see that post at the top of the list, but I had NO idea how many views it was getting until I looked at my stats for the year.
Ahh yes, the bonus sisters. We need them in our lives!
Enjoy your Sunday, Vicki! 🤗
You, too Michelle! 🥰
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Have a lovely Christmas. You have made a good point about Christmas trees. I have bad memories of a bird flying out of mine when I was young. It freaked me out but I think it flew in from the chimney.
Thanks Jamie. When I read that article I admit the first thing I thought of was the squirrel flying out of the tree in Christmas Vacation. I wish you a lovely Christmas too.