Weekly: Find your people
This week, I want to share one of my favorite poems with you, from June Jordan:
“Or maybe the purpose of being
here, wherever we are, is to increase
the durability and the occasions of
love among and between peoples. Love,
as the concentration of tender caring
and tender excitement, or love as the
reasons for joy. I believe that love
is the single, true prosperity of any
moment and that whatever and whoever
impedes, diminishes, ridicules, opposes
the development of loving is spirit is
wrong/hateful.”
To love,
Stephanie Harrison, founder of The New Happy
This Week
In a 2020 study, researchers from Harvard published a study that looked at the risk and protective factors for depression. What they discovered might surprise you: the most important protective factor for depression is the strength of your connections to others.
You're not supposed to go through hard things by yourself. You're supposed to go through them with others; that's what makes it possible to get through them.
If you don't feel like you're getting the support you need, that doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with you, that you are unworthy of help, or that your problems are too hard to cope with. It just means that you need different support.
Here are a few places that you might find your people:
Can you ask the people around you to support you in a different way, being explicit about what you need?
Is there someone in your network who has been through similar challenges, who you can reach out to?
Are there support groups or local communities, where you might be able to meet new people?
Where are there people who are specifically trained to help in hard times, like therapists or helplines?
Whatever you are going through, please know that there is help out there.
(For those who want to be there to support their loved ones, see the community suggestions below!)
More Tips and Tools
1. Honor your journey — You were there for it all.
2. Why self-compassion will help you reach your goals — The surprising truth about achievement.
3. Let go of who you think you should be — Become who you are.
4. Look with new eyes — How to stop taking things for granted.
5. Worthy no matter how you feel — Any feeling is okay.
Or listen to the podcast episodes (Apple, Spotify) from this week!
Community
How has a friend helped you recently?
"I have a social event coming up where I'll be seeing people from school I've not seen in years. I'm going through some big life events and I'm not in a great place. A good friend has offered to stick with me through the party to help with the social side and deflect anything I might not want to talk about."
"I have recently been feeling that I need a creative outlet in my life but have struggling to decide what to do. My friend gave me a simple suggestion that not only made me feel heard by her, but sparked my own creativity again!"
"Giving me advice and encouragement during my recent job search. It has meant the world to feel like I have such good people in my corner.
Inspiration
1. Why you might want to dance away your blues (CreativeBoom) — After a series of devastating losses, artist Annie Nicholson has created a new way to help us all grieve.
2. India’s annual flamingo migration (Colossal) — Your weekly dose of awe.
3. This week’s New Happy hero is Roberta Bell (Washington Post) — A woman in jail had a baby, and one of the officers working there took her in—even though she knew she would lose her job. Now, she wants to help create a safe space for others (here’s her GoFundMe!)
Before You Go
No spam, just joy.
