Mar 15, 2021
TFW you leave your phone off for an entire day, and nobody even calls you…
TFW you leave your phone off for an entire day, and nobody even calls you…
A couple of weeks ago, I was caught up in an extended meltdown. I was having a lot of frustrating client calls, and I was working through an verrrry drawn-out, stressful negotiation. I felt tired of being the resident feminist killjoy in my quarantine pod. My hesitant attempts to be “out here” on Instagram were freaking me out, and a negative comment on one of my posts sent me spiraling.
I was upset and keyed up and fried and crying,
I felt like everyone hated me and I was just annoying people every time I opened my mouth. And I couldn’t stop looking at my phone.
So, I decided to cut myself off (partly my man’s idea; can’t take full credit here).
I left my phone on airplane mode, hidden away upstairs, for 36 hours straight.
All day long, I kept imagining all the people trying to reach me. Texts going unanswered. Calls going straight to voicemail. “That’ll show ’em!” I thought.
…but when I *finally* powered back up, I had exactly 2 messages:
My mom, after her 1st vaccine shot: Sore!
My sister, in response: ❤️
Hm. 🤔
I realized, to my dismay, that I’m an active participant in my own communication fatigue.
I put messages out, so messages come back in. Like a boomerang that whacks out my dopamine levels every time it whizzes back around.
I don’t have a point to this story. No wise life lesson to impart. Just… I miss the 90s.

About Sam
Samantha Pollack is a Copywriter & Creative Director who works with ethically minded, mission driven businesses who are actively trying to reshape our culture (and possibly tear down the patriarchy). She’s also the founder of The Highly Sensitive Business Owner, a 12-week online program that helps HSPs & neurodivergent business owners create healthier, more sustainable systems in their work.
Sam also writes about feminism, privilege, pop culture, entrepreneurship, the creative process, and whatever else is on her mind. She currently lives in Asheville, NC.
Emails for cult thought leaders.
(Personality included.)
Want to learn how to craft emails that inspire action and engagement WITHOUT the “tried and true” (cough: patriarchal) norms we’ve all been taught?
I’m doing it, and I can show you how to do it, too.
(But sometimes, I also like to write about the books I’m reading, or the creative process, or the entrepreneurial experience, or why I hate Steve Jobs, or how I met my BFF. I’ll send you emails like that, too.)
*Just kidding. It’s only an email list.
Books. Cats. Rants. Drawrings.
(and every couple months or so, an unexplained absence 🤷🏻)