In my first-ever job interview at the brand-new US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), my soon-to-be director came in to the interview 45 minutes late in a whirlwind of activity and fuss. He introduced himself, sat down, pounded the table, and said, “My first question is…
We're with you, Vanessa. Flexibility and resilience are what we need to Shift the Country. I'm glad you took the time you needed to regroup. It will serve you--and us--as you carry on. I think the biggest struggles lie ahead of us. We'll get through the midterms and then we'll need to figure out how to do damage control and succeed in 2024. It's going to be a rough ride, and we all need to figure out how to take care of ourselves while we continue to work to save our democracy.
Looking down the road a bit, there are a lot of challenges coming. Big ones. We're going to need to be able to practice what Terry Pratchett called militant decency. One of the things about yoga (the stretches, not the spiritual practices) is that a lot of it is passive strength training -- as you stretch and learn to hold those new poses, you're doing the work to strengthen muscles. Strong, but flexible, is a good goal.
We're with you, Vanessa. Flexibility and resilience are what we need to Shift the Country. I'm glad you took the time you needed to regroup. It will serve you--and us--as you carry on. I think the biggest struggles lie ahead of us. We'll get through the midterms and then we'll need to figure out how to do damage control and succeed in 2024. It's going to be a rough ride, and we all need to figure out how to take care of ourselves while we continue to work to save our democracy.
Looking down the road a bit, there are a lot of challenges coming. Big ones. We're going to need to be able to practice what Terry Pratchett called militant decency. One of the things about yoga (the stretches, not the spiritual practices) is that a lot of it is passive strength training -- as you stretch and learn to hold those new poses, you're doing the work to strengthen muscles. Strong, but flexible, is a good goal.