Thank you for all of this. And I loved your writing style here!
I’m curious what the role of asking for help here is. In the story, none of this would have happened if Ananda hadn’t asked for some water in the first place.
You said the other day “I wish I’d talked to my neighbors more.” and that stuck with me.
One intention I have is to actually say hi to people when they come pick up items I’ve offered on the Buy Nothing Group. In 2020, we all shifted to “contactless porch pick ups” but the whole point of the project is to create a network among neighbors through gifts.
Take care of yourself & thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts.
You are so right with pointing out Ananda asking for help. This is something I personally work with. If I hadn’t made it something intentional, I don’t think the first 24 hours or so would have happened (knocking on my neighbor’s door at night for a ride, asking for help moving the cats, asking folks for a place to stay). Still, there’s room to keep doing this outside of emergencies.
Since 2020, maybe before, folks also have been experiencing a deep loneliness crisis. My students openly discuss being chronically online (as I can be too!). Jon Haidt says it’s due to tech, insecurities, perfectionism. I believe there’s some merit there.
I LOVE that you are part of a buy nothing group. One of my friends also partakes and loves it. It seems it’s mostly on Meta though, is that right?
We practice all of the things outside of emergencies so we have some mechanisms to fall back on when it counts, don’t we? Or at least it would be good if we did.
Last year was my first year I intentionally practiced asking for help and it resulted in some wonderful connections and conversations. I set it as a goal - each month I “had to” identify one area I felt stuck in and get support. Now that I’m saying this, I might do this again this year and add something else around offering support.
It is on FB 😕, the only reason I’m still there, really. For now…
Thank you for all of this. And I loved your writing style here!
I’m curious what the role of asking for help here is. In the story, none of this would have happened if Ananda hadn’t asked for some water in the first place.
You said the other day “I wish I’d talked to my neighbors more.” and that stuck with me.
One intention I have is to actually say hi to people when they come pick up items I’ve offered on the Buy Nothing Group. In 2020, we all shifted to “contactless porch pick ups” but the whole point of the project is to create a network among neighbors through gifts.
Take care of yourself & thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts.
Thanks, Hanna!
You are so right with pointing out Ananda asking for help. This is something I personally work with. If I hadn’t made it something intentional, I don’t think the first 24 hours or so would have happened (knocking on my neighbor’s door at night for a ride, asking for help moving the cats, asking folks for a place to stay). Still, there’s room to keep doing this outside of emergencies.
Since 2020, maybe before, folks also have been experiencing a deep loneliness crisis. My students openly discuss being chronically online (as I can be too!). Jon Haidt says it’s due to tech, insecurities, perfectionism. I believe there’s some merit there.
I LOVE that you are part of a buy nothing group. One of my friends also partakes and loves it. It seems it’s mostly on Meta though, is that right?
We practice all of the things outside of emergencies so we have some mechanisms to fall back on when it counts, don’t we? Or at least it would be good if we did.
Last year was my first year I intentionally practiced asking for help and it resulted in some wonderful connections and conversations. I set it as a goal - each month I “had to” identify one area I felt stuck in and get support. Now that I’m saying this, I might do this again this year and add something else around offering support.
It is on FB 😕, the only reason I’m still there, really. For now…