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Thanksgiving Thankfulness

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In the US, we celebrate Thanksgiving this week. For this occasion, we want to take a moment and share what we are grateful for this Thanksgiving. Having gratitude, the expression of appreciation for what we have, is a practice for emotional resilience. Thus, amidst this pandemic season, while working from home and juggling childcare, being thankful is an important component of our survival toolbox to stay productive and healthy.

Signage with "be thankful" nestled in a winter sweater
Having gratitude is a path toward emotional resilience. Photo by Kiy Turk

We are thankful for:

  1. You, our readers, subscribers, Facebook group members, LinkedIn page followers. Thank you for engaging with us, giving feedback, and sharing our content when it’s helpful to your colleagues, family, and friends.
  2. Our content collaborators. We love hearing your stories and your advice. Your willingness to share, in interviews, pharma function highlights, and guest posts, helps us fulfill our mission of building a community of women in pharma helping each other in our careers.
  3. Our blog advisors. This is a nebulous network of friends, in-person and online, who share advice for newbies like us. From the technical know-how tips to strategic digital marketing ideas, we have a long to-do list for how to get better at this blogging thing.

Wenny is thankful for:

  1. My professional network. When one door closes, several doors seem to open. Just as the announcement came that my group would be phased out at year’s end, several colleagues, friends, and recruiters have reached out with potential new opportunities. Therefore, I’d like to think that practicing career resilience will pay dividends as I continue my job search.
  2. My family has remained healthy during the pandemic. Though my toddler didn’t start preschool as planned, I am able to work from home, with childcare help from my parents who live nearby. My partner, an essential worker at the hospital, has been able to continue working in his surgical specialty and has not been needed to care for ICU patients.
  3. Being in a profession and industry that aims to improve health. While the pharmaceutical business model has lots of flaws and drug prices are high, I do appreciate that my colleagues and I make decisions in our work with a focus on improving patients’ lives.

Michelle is thankful for:

  1. I am thankful for a healthy family. Having gone through COVID19 within my household it provides a very real perspective to the pandemic.
  2. My supportive professional network. This has been a challenging year for everyone. I even changed positions during the pandemic. Thus, I am thankful for my former co-workers- their sushi dates, group texts, zoom happy hours and random emails/texts/LinkedIn messages. I am also thankful for my new department. My management and colleagues have made me feel so welcome even though we do not see each other regularly. 
Signage that says "give thanks & eat pie"
Thanksgiving is a little different this year. Photo by Preslie Hirsch

Last notes

Typically, Thanksgiving is a holiday for friends and family to gather around a turkey feast. It’s a day or two off from work to travel or start the holiday shopping season. However, this year many people are heeding public health COVID-19 guidance and celebrating only with their households or joining zoom Thanksgivings. And for that, we are very thankful and wish everyone in our pharma community a safe and healthy holiday.