Underemployment in a Time Such as This

Monday, October 27, 2025

Happy Monday, my friends! If you’ve been following along with developments in the life of our LOVEboldly community, you know that financial constraints, many the secondary and tertiary fruits of the present moment in our history, have required me to reduce my hours and have affected our overall capacity to keep all operations the same as before. One sign of this was the lack of Monday Moment last week when I simply didn’t have the time to write it. It’s a sad and troubling position to be in, but we are also, unfortunately, not unique. Other organizations, many LGBTQIA+ serving, have had to reduce staff and programs in order to make ends meet. In many cases, those reductions have come as part of the elimination of federal and state programs or the embargo on programs supporting nonprofits which fall under the nebulous title of DEI. While some private philanthropy and other private giving has stepped up to support programs focused on basic necessities like housing, food, clothing, and health care, that funding reorientation has caused money that in other times would have supported advocacy and faith organizations like LOVEboldly to be limited or to dry up entirely.

I now find myself in a period of underemployment, an area which is not well understood by many people. We often focus on employment and unemployment with a special category for full time students who may or may not be employed in addition to their studies. The idea of underemployment, though rarely discussed, is often seen as privileged because “you still have a job.” That’s true. I might be underemployed, but I still have jobs, and I still have money coming in. However, underemployment, particularly for people living paycheck-to-paycheck, can cause significant problems for people to meet their expenses particularly if their continued employment excludes them from (remaining) government programs or other relief.

In trying to stay positive, I’m counting the blessings I have. I’m trying to look at what this time can provide: more time to focus on school and learning; more time to work on church-related projects; and time to consider what’s next for me both in terms of my professional life and what I hope is still a long term engagement with LOVEboldly (Yep! You’re not getting rid of me that easily.). That said, none of us should have to be in positions where we need to “stay positive” because staying positive is exhausting. It can lead to all types of burnout.

How do you respond to underemployment or unemployment? How do you “stay positive” without emotionally exhausting yourself?

Let us pray: God, we pray for everyone making their way through unemployment and underemployment. We ask you to grant them grace as they move through this season and empower them to persist in searching and finding new or expanded employment. Hold them closely when they experience rejection and celebrate with them when new opportunities become realized. We ask this through Jesus, our savior and liberator. Amen.

Blessings on your weeks, my friends! Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you.

Faithfully,

Ben +

Customer Service Christian

Sunday, October 26, 2025

Eli Shiltz (he/him)

Member, Blue Ocean Faith Columbus

Queer Christian

I want to share with you something I really struggled with when I started a new position in February 2024. Overcoming that obstacle not only helped me to become successful but also taught me an important lesson that I am now trying to apply to more areas of my life.

One major aspect of the job is providing guidance to people who are often worried. After a few weeks of studying, I felt fully prepared to provide people with the solution to their problem while letting them know that everything would be ok. I am not ashamed to admit that it was really a struggle. I had all the information and tools to give them, but I was having a hard time figuring out how to provide help without sounding cold. I needed to find my “customer service voice” but didn’t know where to look.

It was around this time that I started occasionally listening to sermons on the way to work. It is funny how God sends you a message when you need to hear it. This particular message focused on Luke 3:21-22: When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too.

And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” The pastor spoke about how we have all been blessed by God’s love and we should pass this blessing on to others. We can do this by letting them know that there is someone who cares about them and they are loved. This made something click for me and I finally found my “customer service” voice. I need to approach every call/email with the mindset that I will show them compassion and make sure they know that I truly care about their problem and want them to get the help they need rather than just simply giving them the information.

Reflection and Action

I would like to encourage you to become a “Customer Service Christian” as well. Try looking for ways to share God’s love with everyone you meet. Ask yourself how you can let them know that they are beloved and deserving of care and compassion.

Taking Care of Me

Sunday, October 19, 2025 - National LGBTQ+ Center Day

Cass Helm (she/her)

Board Member, LOVEboldly

Director of Administrative Operations, Stonewall Columbus

Queer Believer

The last 365 days so much has happened. I don’t just mean to me personally and I am sure we all know that. Especially since I am writing this after the 2024 election. I don’t know if I can put the last 365 days into only 1000 words. What I do know is that I am not done fighting.

My body, heart, soul, and mind might be tired, but my will is not. I have lived so many lives, and I am just getting started. As I work to heal from my own past traumas and current stress triggers, I am reminded that I am so fucking strong and that nothing can stand in my way of waking up and putting one foot in front of the other. What is new to me is putting my own oxygen mask on first. Making the time and effort to put my own needs before anything else in this world.

When I wake up in the morning there is nothing wrong with taking my time to focus on what my current body, heart, soul, and mind need in that precise moment. That might look like taking an extra 15 minutes to snuggle my dogs and wipe the sleep out of my eyes before looking at my phone to see what next task needs to be tackled

today. That might look like a hot shower that I don’t just rush through, but I take my time in. That might look like having a cup of coffee while listening to Stevie Nicks.

Anything can be considered that if it brings me joy and peace. No one in the world is going to know what each of us truly need for our individual selves. Why can’t we start giving ourselves the love that we give others? Why don’t we show ourselves our favorite love languages?

Better yet, show yourself all of them.

When I began a new journey of self-discovery three years ago, I never realized how easy it could be to take care of myself in a positive way, the trick is continuing to take care of myself even when the world is burning down around me (not literally y’all or is it?!). I have always put others before myself, call it my Southern upbringing, trauma responses, or just because I love seeing others happy. I also have never been good at telling others what I need or asking for help. I expect people to just know like I do, I just know what people need, sometimes before they do. This isn’t a brag of any sort, it is exhausting and not something that is always healthy, but when I use it in a healthy way it is a bit of a superpower. Anyway, when people don’t just know I have often felt unappreciated. That is something that I have been able to notice and work on and I have gotten much better about not being upset with others for not knowing what I need (I am healing, not healed). To help myself not feel unappreciated I started to take care of me the way I take care of others. Making myself nice meals, even when no one was there to share them, was a big way to learn to do this. I love to cook for others, I love knowing that they love my food, I love hearing about it, and I love enjoying

meals with the people I care about. It only made sense that I could do that for myself as well, yes, I even compliment myself. It seems like a small thing now, but it opened an entire part of myself that showed me how to do things for myself that I would do for anyone else. It helped me to see my worth and know that I am just as worthy of great things as the people I care about.

Showing myself kindness and what I needed to feel comfortable, appreciated, confident, and loved.

Now we fast forward to now, the present day. I still do small things for myself, but life has made it much more difficult not to be drawn to putting others before myself again. I have felt so out of control because of life lifing that I have fallen back into those old habits of not being aware of my own needs again. It is important that I stop and remember that I can’t take care of anyone or anything if I don’t take care of myself. I have to ensure my oxygen mask is on first and that I can thrive before moving on to the bigger issue(s) at hand.

We don’t have to do any of this alone, we don’t, I mean that with my entire heart, but we can take care of ourselves along the way. Love yourself the way you love the people you love the most so that you can fight another day. I am.