Y’all I knew January was going to be hard but I am surprised by what I’ve been experiencing this past week in particular. Folks have been downright rude. Like coming at me in a way I haven’t seen since pre-pandemic. It’s wearing me down. I am still trying to identify why people seem to be so short-fused and reactive right now but I would like to invite us all to take a second today and think on our current feeling, where those might be coming from, and how we are acting on those feelings.
I work with and engage with A LOT of people every day and I know that means that I encounter the best and the worst with far more frequency than most. It requires me to be very good at self-regulating and being understanding and empathetic. This week has pushed me to my limits y’all. I am grateful for today’s prompt because for me at least, it is exactly what I need to remind myself of and recenter.
I hope you have a day full of lovely encounters with your fellow humans.
xo Shannon
Shannon Brags on Omkari:
Omkari interviewed me for her podcast and boom … besties. Here’s what I know about Omkari – she’s HYSTERICAL. She’s quick witted, wildly observant, and amazing listener. She is out changing the world every minute of every day and I am so grateful she invited me on her show because now she’s stuck with me forevs. Obviously, I highly recommend her podcast but I also suggest you subscribe to her very thoughtful newsletter that is always full of brilliance.
About Omkari (formal edition):
Omkari Williams is a speaker, writer, podcast host, and coach for activists, both experienced and new, helping them develop and sustain their activism. Her passion is teaching people the power of story as a tool in changing social policy. Omkari says, “Our stories are bridges between us and others and can be immensely powerful in creating societal change. Yet the stories of so many have been neglected. When we learn how to leverage the power of our collective stories we can create meaningful change and help bring justice to the world.”
On her podcast, Stepping Into Truth: Conversations on Race, Gender, and Social Justice, she interviews people doing activist work in areas from Abortion Rights to Zero Plastic Waste.
Her writing has been featured online by Elephant Journal, My Empowered World, Women For One, and Tattooed Buddha and in print by Savannah Magazine and Paprika Southern.
Today’s Inspiration:
What Are You *For*? It's human nature to look for what's wrong, to look for what we have to defend against. It's how we stayed safe when wooly mammoths were roaming the earth. But now that thinking can keep us stuck. It can keep us focused on the fight to the point where we lose sight of what it is we're fighting for. Also, there's a level of anxiety that exists in being against something that doesn't exist when we're for something. I'm against racism, what I'm for is a free and just society for us all.
Here are some questions to think/journal/make art about.
What am I for?
What vision do I hold that gets me excited about what's possible?
How do I bring more of what I'm for into my life on a daily basis?
Identifying what you're for gives you a roadmap to follow when you get off course or when the naysayers come calling. Acting from what we're for is a powerful way to live.
Connect with Omkari:
https://www.omkariwilliams.com/
https://twitter.com/omkari_williams
https://www.instagram.com/omkari_williams/
https://www.steppingintotruth.com/ (podcast)
I was going to save this for the end of the month, but perhaps it's needed more now.
I have so thoroughly enjoyed this month's journey with you. Thank you for introducing me to these voices. Thank you for sharing your voice. Thank you for helping me create a bit of digital space in which I'm feeling comfortable sharing.
First: I am very sorry that you have been assaulted so viciously and repeatedly. I do not understand that. So here is a vote of confidence: I am really enjoying these daily prompts, for all kinds of reasons. Please keep doing what you are doing, just as you are doing it. It is worthwhile work, and it needs to be done. You have the platform to do it. Please do continue. Secondly, as I typed out a response to this prompt, for myself, I realized suddenly that I had unconsciously changed “what are you for?” As in “what do you support?” To “of what use are you?” I have been trying to figure this out for the five years since I retired. Work life keeps many/some/all? of us very focused on “what we are for,” even when we think we are independent—either because we have flexibility in our choices and schedules or because we believe ourselves to be independent “thinkers.” What became painfully obvious to me when I retired was that work had shaped every single aspect of my life—my attire, my responsibilities, my focus, my relationships. And now that I can “be” anything I want and be “for” anything I want—because the “shackles” are removed—I find I still am wondering what shape that will be, what path I will next tread. So thanks for the prompts. Just keep being YOU.