Small Acts of Courage

I grew up in a small town in Minnesota (so a fairly conservative part of the country). My parents still live there, and earlier this fall, they noticed that all the political signage in their neighborhood was pro-Trump.

So they decided to get a Biden/Harris yard sign so that other progressive folks would know they weren’t alone.

The sign got stolen within a week, so they ordered another one + put that one up (taking it in at night so it wouldn't get snatched again).

The day they put up the new sign, someone rang their doorbell. It was a neighbor they’d never met who stopped by to thank them for putting up a new sign + not giving up. She said it gave her hope + made her feel less alone.

On the eve of election day, when so many of us are feeling anxiety, grief, uncertainty, and maybe even tentative hope, this is the story I’m holding close to my heart.

I’m remembering all the small acts of love, kindness, courage, integrity, and solidarity I’ve witnessed over the past four years -- all the ways I’ve seen people trying to do the right thing in a hard time.

I’m remembering all the ways we’ve shown up for each other, big + small -- and all the ways I’ve seen folks reach out to let others know they’re not alone.

No matter how this goes down tomorrow, let’s keep doing that.

Because all the things we do to support each other, care for ourselves, and try to make the world better, matter.

Let’s keep going.

Tiny Steps Past the Impossible

There’s power in doing things our brains told us we could never do.

But these impossible things don’t have to be immense, gargantuan tasks! They can be tiny.

Here's a tiny impossible thing I did yesterday, for instance:

I edited a video to include a graphic with some theme music.

That’s right, y'all.

I hope you are super impressed by my ingenuitive talent and technological virtuosity.

It was an important lesson, though, in noticing that this tiny step did basically the same thing in my brain as much larger and scarier leaps I've taken in the past.

So this is what happened.

Someone challenged me to polish up the videos I'm making for my free storytelling training next week.

Immediately, I was like, no I am absolutely not doing this.

Because I would have to learn a new thing and spend all this time and energy figuring it out. And what if after all of that, I couldn't even get it how I wanted. And then I'd feel like a failure. Plus, it’s such a small thing; would it even matter?

But I could see it pretty much right away: all of these thoughts were just automatic responses from my brain as it tried to fortify the walls of impossibility that were starting to shake in the rumblings of newfound creativity, curiosity, and possibility.

And this is why it mattered that I spent two hours figuring out how to add 5 second of music and a graphic to my videos:

Because it put a crack in the solid, stone wall of “nope, not possible” that lives in my brain.

Doing impossible things is like guerrilla warfare (or nonviolent direct action) for the liberation of possibility and freedom of movement in my own self.

If I can interrupt my brain before it automatically shuts down a new, scary, unknown thing, I can start to change everything about how I live my life, step into the world, and create what I want.

And low-stakes situations are perfect ways to do this.

So what impossible thing could you do today? What possibility has your brain written off as an automatic “no” that you might reclaim?

Doing this impossible thing might not "matter" in a linear sense, but I will tell you: it's a delicious and deeply satisfying thing to feel walls of impossibility crumble to the ground in your own self.

Embracing your Radiant Weirdness

There are few things as inspiring or catalyzing as people who are fully alive and lit up in their radiant weirdness.

To me, radiant weirdness is anything that falls outside the norms of the dominant culture, anything that causes people to look or think twice, either with disdain or interest, disapproval or curiosity, that also illuminates and inspires.

Radiant weirdness makes us feel like we’re glowing from the inside-out.  Like we’re so congruent with the truth of our being that everything sparks.

It’s the strange, unexpected oddity that makes us magnetic and interesting and lights the way into new possibility.

Whether it’s your eclectic array of hobbies, your ambitious creative project that pushes the edges, your inner complexities and contradictions, or the path you’ve chosen for yourself that makes others raise their eyebrows, if it lights you up, it’s a thing the world needs.

Radiant weirdness changes the culture.

It’s catalytic and contagious.  

It inspires a sense of possibility, opens spaces of permission, and lends courage.

And it doesn’t really matter if your radiant weirdness is different than mine.  If I see you expressing, owning, and living it, I feel it in my bones. It’s something my soul recognizes.  It’s something that creates sparks of hope, truth, and calling in my own being.

Embrace your radiant weirdness for yourself first.  And also know that when you do, you are doing a public service.  By carving out space in the culture for your realness to exist (in all of its weird, radiant complexity), you are widening the field of possibility for all of us.

So shine on, you beautiful, luminous weirdos.

Take up Space!

There’s a great scene in “Knock Down the House” – a Netflix documentary that follows 4 women running for Congress in 2018 – where Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is preparing for a debate against her opponent, Joe Crowley, the district’s incumbent of 20 years. 

She sets down her notes and says, “I need to take up space,” as she reaches out and waves her arms.  She takes a deep breath and says, “I am experienced enough to do this; I am prepared enough, mature enough, and brave enough to do this.  And this whole time, he’s going to tell me I can’t do this – that I’m small, little, young, inexperienced,” and then she extends her arms with a sharp exhale, as though she’s pushing all of that away from her.

I love this scene because moments later in the debate, you feel only the strength of her energy and presence.  You would never guess that she felt anything other than confident and ready for the moment.

I love that we see her fear, uncertainty, and vulnerability but then also see her step through all of it to claim her place on the world stage.

Watching her process reminded me that it takes copious amounts of inner work, energy management, self-talk, and intentional practice to build a capacity to command energy and take up space like that.  It takes staring down your terror, building belief, and staying devoted to your deep reasons.

For Alex, the world benefited enormously from her willingness to take up space, but it didn’t give her that permission.  Even as others encouraged her, she had to be the one to believe she deserved to be there and then step up and forward to claim it.

All of this was a reminder, inspiration, and challenge for me.  And that’s the beautiful thing about taking up space and claiming your bigness: it inspires other people to do the same.  And that is a gift for the world.