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Corporate wellness comic strip: Donna Lake and Dash face a growing pile of breathing logs.

Corporate wellness comic panel: Donna surveys the stack while Dash explains the overnight breathing log.

In this corporate wellness comic, Dash stayed overnight logging while Donna frowns at her desk.

In a wider view, boxes of breathing logs fill the office as Donna tells Dash to add his stack to the others.

Transcript

Panel 1

Action/Visuals: Donna Lake sits behind her desk with her laptop open (sticker: “Breathe / Reflect / Thrive”). Dash the penguin stands at the right side of the desk holding a box stuffed with tall stacks of colorful paper logs. A large poster behind them reads “Breathe / Reflect / Thrive” (with “COMING SOON!” on it).
Dialogue (Dash): “DONNA, WILL YOU PLEASE SIGN OFF ON THESE?”

Panel 2

Action/Visuals: Same angle. Donna looks toward the big pile of logs. Dash continues holding the overflowing box.
Dialogue (Donna Lake): “WHAT’S ALL THAT?”
Dialogue (Dash): “YESTERDAY’S BREATHING LOG”

Panel 3

Action/Visuals: Donna closes her eyes and frowns. Dash is still wedged beside the desk, bracing the heavy box of logs.
Dialogue (Dash): “I STAYED OVERNIGHT TO CATCH UP!”

Panel 4

Action/Visuals: Wider office view reveals multiple boxes and piles of the same colorful log stacks spread across the floor and stacked up high to the right. Dash stands holding one stack, facing Donna’s desk. Donna sits small behind her desk, speaking toward Dash and the mountains of paperwork. Donna gestures to her left, eyes still closed.
Dialogue (Donna Lake): “JUST SET THEM OVER THERE WITH THE OTHERS”

Logjam

Posted on March 25, 2026 by donnalake

From Donna's Desk

If a wellness program is creating more work than the work, what problem are we solving?

Because the thing about paperwork is it does not care what it’s documenting. It is happy to multiply around any concept. It will replicate on joy, on grief, on team building, on breathing. Paperwork does not discriminate. It only expands.

So here is my updated guidance, which is not official, but is deeply sincere.

If you are staying late to log your breathing, stop.

Go home.

Breathe once, slowly, for yourself.

And if anyone asks for the documentation, feel free to tell them you filed it in the same place you store your “work-life balance.”

Near the back. In a box. With the others.

Donna

Want to grab some Donna Lake swag? Head over to Pithitude.

Start from the beginning of the strip.

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2 thoughts on “Logjam”

Cheri
03/26/2026, 8:34 am
- Reply
Love your organizational skills, Donna. Now if I could just fit everything that needs to be dusted in that one back corner, I could sign off on that, too!
1. donnalake
  
  03/26/2026, 10:07 am
  
  Reply
  
  Cheri, I have submitted a requisition for a privacy screen for that corner. It should do nicely.