I Want You To Be Both Gentle and Tough With Yourself

A pep talk for the holiday weekend

Hi friends.

Happy almost Thanksgiving, and by that I mean please enjoy a few days off, if you have them coming. I’m still here in Mexico for a bit longer. Still walking, thinking recharging, nearly ready to rise again.

I have nothing to say about America at the moment. Or perhaps I mean the idea of America. Maybe next year there will be a détente between us, but I doubt it.

Instead I will think only of my community these next few days. I honor these good-natured, smart, caring people who give a shit about making the world a better place.

I just wrote a friend: I feel like I would do anything to make this life of mine happen.

Sometimes people wonder how I’m so productive and often my first answer is: It’s how I pay my bills. Like I have no choice but to do this work so I can keep my life going. Because I want to make good things happen for me and for my people, as much as that’s within my reach. Which means I have to do my job. You’re not allowed to go to your job and not do any work and neither am I. I’m dialed in because I need to be.

I know everyone’s world looks different in terms of concerns, worries, responsibilities, and distractions, but still it’s a question worth asking yourself, a place to start: Do you feel like you’re dialed in?