It wasn't the job. It wasn't the stress. It was the screen. Ever since work had shifted to video calls, she'd become obsessed with something: the flat screen light was unforgiving. The crow's feet. The dark circles. The dull mid-day skin.
She'd bought a ring light. She'd learned how to angle her webcam. She'd found Zoom's "Studio Effects" filter that softens features.
It worked. But she felt like a fraud.
Then, during a call, a colleague's skin looked different. Radiant. Firm. She asked her: "What have you done? You look great." Her colleague pulled something out of her bag. A stick. "I put it on before every call," she told her. "Thirty seconds."