If you're receiving this newsletter, you're one of those people who I'd always welcome chatting with over a cup of coffee. I hope you'll consider this newsletter an invitation to continue being in conversation, whether in real life or online!

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Main Course

Practicing the World You Imagine

Near the start of 2024, I came across a quotation from activist, filmmaker, and author Valarie Kaur:

“We live into what we imagine. Imagine the world as it could be. Paint that world. Sing that world. Invite it into your dreams. Practice that world in the space available to you.”

The idea of “practicing that world in the space available to you” has danced in and out of my brain since. What might practicing that world look like for me?

I should begin by explaining that–as many of you receiving this newsletter already know–the professional world I navigate is largely within the social and nonprofit sectors. I am surrounded by people with a deep love of community who are seeking to make the world a kinder, more just, more compassionate place. People who center relationship building, patience, and connection making. People who value being in meaningful conversation with others, as well as having moments for their own personal reflections.

The world that I imagine would create more opportunities for all these things that my friends and colleagues seek in order to flourish, and would protect the time and space needed for reflection. And importantly, it would invite others to think out loud together and share what we are learning with one another, and to do so with vulnerability.

Which brings me to this newsletter.

I find myself at a transition point. My husband and I are the lucky parents of two terrific boys… but in truth, they are no longer boys. They are moving into full-fledged adulthood, launching their own lives. Our younger son heads off to college in a few short weeks; our older left for college a few years ago. I find myself thinking with both excitement and uncertainty about what empty nesterhood holds. While I will of course continue to be a mother to them both, this upcoming shift in my living arrangement from three people to two is bringing with it the anxiety that uniquely comes with knowing a core part of your identity, the who you are and how you operate in your day-to-day life, is changing.

This inflection point has gotten me thinking about All. The. Things. Things like identity, purpose, contribution. Aging gracefully. Letting go and holding on. And in this three-act play of life, figuring out how to thoughtfully close Act 2 and open the curtain on Act 3.

I have a feeling that many people I know are thinking about all the things these days, too. Writing has always been my first-choice way of sorting out my mental flotsam and jetsam, attempting to work through, rather than around. And to me, it’s often felt like a way to invite dialogue at a pace that fits into the cadence of people’s lives.

And so, that is my hope in launching this newsletter, that this might be a way of practicing that world I imagine in the space available to me, a space of written words: that these words might spark conversation, deepen relationships, and generate reflection. That those of us thinking about all the things might have companions in that journey. And perhaps, too, I’ll get to practice being a little bit vulnerable along the way. I invite you to join me.

How are you practicing the world as it could be?

How are you painting and singing that world?

I’d love to hear from you.

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Quick Bites

Curious to hear more from Valarie Kaur, the author of those powerful words I quoted above? Check out her 2017 TED Talk on 3 lessons of revolutionary love in a time of rage, which continues to feel relevant and timely today. ​ Watch Valarie Kaur's TED Talk

Speaking of opening the curtain on Act 3 of life… I recommend checking out the Wiser Than Me podcast hosted by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, in which she talks with older women about the lessons they’ve learned from, well, being older. And they do so with wisdom, poignancy, and humor–a great listen! ​ ​ Listen to Wiser Than Me podcast

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Something Sweet

Here I am last May, with my husband and our sons, on the way to our younger's high school graduation!

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With warmth and aloha,

Joyce

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