If you are working on social impact and social justice this is a newsletter to energise your journey - sign up by adding your email below
The doubt monster 👺👻
|
Dear amazing community As I speak with senior leaders this week, we talked about doubt a lot. Is this the right decision? Which decision needs to come first? What about the future and all its uncertainties? I'm really demotivated by these tough decisions ahead of me. Doubt can lead to freeze. A deep demotivation unfolds in knowing that one big decision will simply be followed by another. An isolating feeling that every decision is “on me”. I feel this in both my professional and personal life. I also feel like culturally we feel like we have to deal with doubt and decisions alone. Perhaps a poor trait we inherit as men? Over time, doubt can begin to erode our identity. What helps? A moment of grounding. A moment of being heard. Sport, attention and meditation have helped many this week. Remembering that we are not alone is probably the biggest thing that helps me. That uncertainty does not have to be carried individually. We can hold it collectively. This to me also feels part of a decolonial collective approach. Courage is not the absence of doubt. Nor is it ignoring the consequences. Sometimes courage is taking the next small step while doubt is still sitting beside us. Of course, this is easier said than done when jobs, livelihoods or relationships might be on the line. In service, bringing Rise in Our Roots to London carries a lot of doubt. Why am I doing this? Who am I to do this? The usual doubt-monster talk. Then I remembered why it matters to me. I am passionate about creating spaces that support people to reconnect with their identity, experience healing and feel less alone. There's no 'ROI' that I can put on this work, I just deeply believe it works. And then realising I do not need to do this alone - Thank you to the Health Poverty Action team! Collective spaces help us carry uncertainty together, so we can make decisions with greater clarity and less fear for ourselves. I truly believe this. Personally, I am also trying to create a consistent home for Eli. The doubt monster is REALLY present around this one. Right now, courage looks like taking small steps in these two areas. One thing at a time. And occasionally remembering to lift my eyes and look towards the horizon. I'd love to know What is an idea or decision you have been putting off because you are carrying uncertainty? If survival did not have to make the whole decision, what might one small act of courage look like? Connecting. Write to me, I'd love to know. I'm always open for a chat :) - https://calendly.com/mo-belonging-people/connect Come to our London event 23rd September - https://zerowastetickets.com/event/riseinourroots Help us take some of this work globally - https://emerging1000.carrd.co/ An old favourite
|
Mohammed Ali (The Innovation)
If you are working on social impact and social justice this is a newsletter to energise your journey - sign up by adding your email below
Dear community Gosh, what a week it’s been! I feel privileged to be around people who are holding big problems but also holding bandwidth to look at big themes too. Here's some themes coming out. Send me an emoji which section resonates. 🤖❤️🩹😁 Power and responsibility 🤖 When we have a homogeneous team, there are going to be blind spots. This could be class, colour, schooling or less obvious. If you ignore that you have a homogeneous team, it will bite you on the a** sometime. Are we afraid to...
Dear men of the community I sometimes forget that others see me as a man. I’m often more aware of my femininity, my colour and my neurospicyness. But I am seen as a man, and I need to pay attention to what comes with that. This week, a dear friend sent me the image below. Please download it. 🔽🔽🔽 Some of its words stopped me. It reminded me that, however I understand myself, I have a responsibility to face the harm men cause. I have caused harm. I have used male entitlement, sometimes without...
Dear community I’ve been sitting with Lara Sheehi’s phrase psychic militancy. It has hit my heart hard and rocked how I think about my “career” (loose career!). As I understand Sheehi, it is a practice of noticing how power shapes our thoughts, and refusing to let it decide what futures are possible. The question underneath it feels familiar: What happens when systems of oppression start to live inside the way I think? How much have I lived true to my vision of an anti-oppressive future? How...