The Media Diet
I won't dwell here that the world is in peril, and I am not specifically talking about the climate crisis. What I will say is that there are many of you out there resisting, protesting. It does take a toll, but the temperature I’ve been taking of these activists is that they cannot slow down.
In light of this observation, Belonging Circles might seem like a luxury for Humans Like Me (HLM) watching from the sidelines. My version of OCD-lite wants me to dwell on the atrocities, the injustices, and moral defects of character displayed in the daily public discourse, and then of course— feel guilty for not protesting (more, or at all).
What I am calling a ‘media diet’ has left me seeking other forms of knowledge and truth seeking. Instead of being a voyeur to the disharmony of our new reality. In my diet, I limit my social media to just 2 to 4 days, about 10 minutes each. Toxic positivity has brought up anger emotions in me! Instead, I am learning about the issues, the historical context, examples, and systemic fault lines that have led us here. This is what hope looks like for me.
But I digress. It’s Belonging Circles that have gotten me to this place.
As I have just submitted Stack’s bi-annual report to our fiscal sponsor (CascadiaNOW!), I need to be honest with you all -colleagues in resilience; people just aren't ready or willing to uncover their emotions about the poly crisis. The numbers of Circles’ participants have decreased this year. My own guilt has kept me from admitting this to myself, meaning that I feel the need to show solidarity or allyship with those directly impacted. I felt the need to “do something” to help the resilience movement, and Cascadia Stack has been my contribution. That’s the luxury of my climate anxiety, not being on the front lines, not being a brown person, not a federal employee, not houseless,
I am a highly sensitive person (HSP) so my experience may be different from yours. There are a lot of people out there that could identify with HSP. Maybe that's you. (It’s actually quite common.)
Many of you reading this have not attended a Belonging Circle for reasons that are your own. I encourage you to spend some private time, give yourself permission to let the emotions come through. Don't worry, that state of mind is just temporary. That's what I've been doing. When people no-show or no one registers for a Circle, I seek other Circles or turn to my resilience toolbox. Otherwise, I have no outlet for these intense emotions, hopefully you see my point here— that your solo resilience practice may be different.
I am at peace with my decision to reduce the number of Belonging Circles and ask for other volunteers to host so that I can use my limited bandwidth to train new facilitators. I can still help others by giving back all that I have learned over the past two years; giving guidance to lead, the tools and platform, so that they can identify the people from their own community - those that might be hurting. It is my hope that more Circle facilitators step forward to lead Circles under Cascadia Stack’s somewhat well-established foundation.
The website is up for renewal in December. I will not be renewing.
