Getting laid off hurts. There is nothing — and I mean nothing — quite like hearing that your role is being eliminated and immediately wondering whether it means you weren't valuable. But, friend, a layoff has far less to do with you than it does with a company's budget, priorities, or organizational chart.

Everywhere I look on the Catholic interwebs the past few weeks, I see one major theme: leisure, or purposeful and restorative rest for our bodies and souls. From Pope Leo XIV to my favorite Substack writers to witty reels on Instagram, we are suddenly laser focused on leisure time.

Do you have a patron saint for your business? If you don't, you should. One way to find one is to look for a saint connected to the work you do.

We've all been there in one form or another: a misunderstanding with a team member, a week where every deadline seems to fall, a project that just seems to meet one obstacle after the other. During challenging times at work, we can lose sight of the big picture and get stuck dragging our feet through the muck.

In the life of a Catholic woman in business, beginnings can feel painfully uncertain. Surrounded by announcements, launches, promotions, and success stories, we can begin to treat formation as an obstacle to our “real” work rather than as part of God’s work within us.

I believe we must say yes to situations that are uncomfortable. Truly living as a Catholic in today’s society can be pretty uncomfortable, but I believe we can learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable, and maybe that is truly how God created us to be.