Greetings!
Most days lately, I feel like I'm balancing between feeling normal and overwhelmed. Walking the streets of Northside with Nikole and the kids is centering -- especially when the spring sun is shining. Time spent on Zoom calls and diving into Floricane's 9th budget revision in three weeks helps to stretch my brain. Glancing at the daily headlines leaves me utterly drained.
The website CityLabs has asked readers to submit maps that reflect their current quarantined life. The kids and I have started talking about our map. Where once we painted with broad strokes across the whole of the city, we now live compressed. The albino squirrel in our backyard, a patch of buttercups in the field by Holton Elementary School, Jim and Nancy's house, Ruby's house, the urban garden, Becca's house, Senator Kaine waving from his home office. Thea has started taking close up photos of flowers, rocks and sticks on our walks. Jack wants to explore nooks and alleys.
Yet, in that same universe, the five-year-old can't sleep because "there are too many sounds in my head," and he's suddenly terrified of bugs. The 12-year-old misses her friends and yearns for a new puppy. Days can be terribly lonely when you're scared.
My stories mirror many of yours; I know because over the past week I've talked to many of you. Our conversations always start with the mundane, then shift to the overwhelming. For years, Floricane's work has centered on community; Covid-19 has unraveled our very sense of what it means to be connected.
I share these simple observations because we're all pivoting to reinvent -- our lives, our relationships, our organizations, our communities. Pivoting without perspective is reaction. Reaction was March. Pivoting with meaning is strategic. Welcome to April, a difficult month of choices, intention, and action.
For Floricane, that means working with clients to more clearly assess what is needed in this moment, and what emergence can look like when this first wave passes. It means creating opportunities for directed reflection. It means encouraging our clients to focus closely and draw new maps, to more clearly see the landmarks that give meaning and context to the work that lies ahead.
So we walk. We create excuses to connect (at a distance). We remap our days, and move forward in new ways. This is the work of human beings in community. It is our work. It is your work, too, because it is our community we are all holding -- together.
Stay well, stay centered, and stay focused on the things that matter most.
John
