All We've Got
Scattered thoughts, unexpected joys, and the mess in between.
What I’ve Been Thinking: People Are All We’ve Got
Ah, the annual reflection, a forced tradition, if I’m being completely honest. Would I sit here and dissect the year if it weren’t for that invisible pressure, that ghost of social media whispering, “and with that, the 2025 season comes to an end...”?
But as I reflected, a single thread stood out. It wasn’t a completed project or a personal milestone. It was people.
In my earlier years, I measured a year in traditional success. This year, I measured it in connection. My work became infinitely better when I got to know folks in person. My travels became adventures because of the strangers who became friends. People showed up for every silly hobby and every whimsical idea. At charity runs and at rallies, it was the collective presence that transformed those events into pure joy.
People are so, so annoying. And yet… people are all we have. And people are all we will ever have.
Ugh. I hate it when clichés are right.
What I’ve Been Reading
I’ve been immersed in The Future Is Disabled by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, and I have absolutely loved it. It’s a radical and visionary book that reimagines care, community, and survival through disability justice. It’s not just a book, it’s a blueprint for a more compassionate world.
Poetry / Freestyle
Wait.
Not yet.
Let me linger in the almost-perfect version of you
just a little while more.
Recent Joy
- Ice skating for the very first time
- Making my first sticker sale!
What I Want You to Know: An Invitation to Show Up
As we step into a new year, cluttered with resolutions about productivity and self-improvement, I want to offer a different kind of invitation: get involved in your community.
Chances are, if you are not a white man, someone once took time out of their day, time they might not have had, to fight for the rights you hold today. Every excuse you could make now is an excuse they could have made, too. But they showed up.
I think by inventing the word “activist”, we have allowed ourselves to outsource caring. We have made it a title for the “specialists,” when really, it is a practice for us all.
You do not need a label to show up. You just need to start.
So here is my open invitation to you, dear reader: If you want to get involved but do not know where to begin, reach out to me. Reply to this email. Let us talk. Let us find a way for you to start giving back in a way that feels sustainable, meaningful, and true to you.
Like what you read? Keep the caffeine (and confetti) flowing by buying me a coffee! ☕️✨
Your thoughts, rants, or tiny joys are always welcome here. If you'd like more of these scattered sparks in your life, I'd be honoured to land in your inbox.