Letter from the Director: Who Are Your Seven?
Hey Y'all,
I have to admit I’ve been putting off writing this letter because I’ve been so overwhelmed. It’s all too much. There’s too much happening, there’s too much we should be doing—need to be doing.
Which isn’t the same as perfectionism or overachieving, which I’ve definitely been guilty of in the past. No, this is a distant, related cousin.
It’s that feeling of paralysis that comes when there’s so much to do you don’t even know where to start.
Like how in the world do we even make a dent in being 50th in the nation for mental health? It’s too much. I’mma go take a nap instead.
Then, I saw this inspiring video of Starlings. You know the birds who move in those amazing, mesmerizing patterns. The ones where thousands of birds move simultaneously as one.
They do that by only focusing on the seven birds around them. They don’t pay attention to anything more than the community around them.
Which is what I come back to when I get overwhelmed. Regardless of what is happening out there in the larger world, can we notice what’s happening in ourselves, our families, our streets, our neighborhoods? Because community counts.
What we build around us—how we care for those we are close to—has the potential to shift thousands.
Just ask the Starlings.
