David's Reflections

David Gitlin, LT'25, WSP USA

“How long can you light yourself on fire to keep other people warm?”

Jenn Nguyen, Director of the Washington State Employee Assistance Program, offered us this question as she joined a panel for Health and Wellbeing Possibility Day on Nov. 14 – an interesting focus in the week-old shadow of the 2024 general election.

Jenn and the other members of the Leadership Studio Community Conversation discussed how to practice true restorative mindfulness and rest in the face of career, family, and social commitments. The short answer is that it’s incredibly difficult. The longer answers include the importance of finding community you feel safe and respected in, being open to wisdom from unexpected places, giving yourself the grace to take care of yourself, and relishing the love of friends and family. Thank you for the time shared with our group by panel members Jenn, Meli Bless, Dr. Ben Danielson, and Carmen Smith, LT’24.

We made time for rest ourselves, with 90 minutes of the afternoon session dedicated to a choice among accessible Zumba, tai chi, joy coaching, crystal bowl and breath meditation, or simply taking a walk or a nap. As a person who believes in the benefits of meditation while never actually doing so, I deeply appreciated the chance to lay in a sound bath-filled dark room, getting lost in my thoughts (and lightly dozing) in the early afternoon.  

Coming back to the election, we ended our day talking about not talking about it – why some wanted to dive into what it meant at the personal and macro level, and why others may have been hesitant to head into that space. That discussion blossomed into a bigger conversation of how we as the 2025 cohort can continue to grow and learn from each other while honoring the group agreements we developed during the September Fall Retreat.

I went into the session reeling from personal and professional challenges, Nov. 5 high among them. Ultimately, I left with catharsis borne of a shared feeling of exhaustion, stress, and frustration – but also excitement for what’s next on our LT 2025 journey. I’m grateful to be a part of this group and I look forward to December.  

Francesca's Reflections

Francesca Holme, LT'25, Public Health--Seattle and King County

It’s 1992, and I’m in health class at Washington Middle School in Seattle. A well-intentioned teacher is explaining the USDA’s Food Pyramid, and the importance of eating lots of grains and vegetables while avoiding sugar and fat. I am a diligent student, so I absorb the underlying message that healthy eating is my responsibility and is within my control. I internalize the implicit finger-wagging: if I choose to eat the wrong thing or the wrong amount, I will undermine my health and my body will be the wrong size.

Today, I imagine what it would have been like to learn instead that the Food Pyramid was heavily influenced by lobbyists and that there is a direct connection between redlining policies and lack of access to healthy food. I imagine how transformative it would have been to unpack the racist origins of fatphobia, and to study how indigenous nations have used food sovereignty to ensure access to healthy food while building cultural connectedness. (Shout out to Just Health Action, which has been teaching critical health literacy to middle schoolers since 2004.)

In short, I wonder how my path would be different if I had always learned to view my health as being interwoven with my community’s health, and that my community’s health was being harmed by entrenched racism and capitalism. I wonder what I would have done differently if I had learned that lobbying in Olympia was more important to my health than eating my broccoli. My privilege as a white, cisgender, straight-sized woman meant that I could delay this reckoning for a long time.

I am now on a long journey of learning and unlearning. I find purpose in working to undo the racist policies and systems that have harmed our communities’ health for decades, and to collectively build the better future that we want to see: one that honors our humanity and allows us to realize true wellness. We have such a long way to go, and what I can do in a day, month, or lifetime feels so small in the face of such powerful, entrenched systems. I frustrate myself with my mistakes. I grieve my inability to learn and unlearn faster. Like many others, sometimes this work leaves me feeling exhausted and in need of radical, deep rest, beautifully modeled for us by The Nap Ministry.

But I also find strength in the community of people who are building the change that we need, and I am so grateful to be in community with you, LT'25. Because our health is intertwined, I look forward to flipping tables with you (thank you, Meli). I will hold onto your matches for you when I see you itching to light yourself on fire to keep others warm (thank you, Jenn). Let’s remind each other to take sabbaticals (thank you, Carmen). I look forward to listening to each other, over and over again (thank you, Ben). And I can’t wait to share my joyful experiences deeply with you, and to hear yours (thank you, Nacala).