We Become Ourselves Together

This is an excerpt from the weekly News-Loveletter. If you would like it sent to your inbox directly (with all the other juicy bits, including a mini joy practice), you can add yourself to my mailing list here.

I would not be me without you. I'm not saying that lightly.

For years, I cared for bees. Two hives. They taught me something about community. About wellness. When the queen grows older and tired, she lays a special egg that will bring another queen. Each bee tends their job for the whole. They work tirelessly. And they communicate with a dance.

I dance with you daily. Connect with words.

I used to write what was true for me without a thought. I spent years writing journals and essays without considering who would read them.

I feel differently now. If I lay down a word, it may well be read … at the very least by me. I want that word to uplift. I want that word to be authentic in the deepest sense. And I want that word to find its mark.

See, right there, I first wrote that I wanted it to be "comprehensible," but that sounds a bit complicated, a bit academic. I don't want to live there.

I'd rather simplify. So I drop the words I imagine you taking in. And I would love nothing more than for you to read my words and think, "This is for me."

I've chosen to hang out with you for a reason. I've traversed many circles and have learned the rules, the lingo, and what's expected. My favorite circles are the ones where people stretch to see kindness in one another. Not just to be kind, but to see kindness. To celebrate it. To live in a welcoming way.

I like to laugh and celebrate, while setting aside differences. I imagine the bees doing this. I'll bet they overlook the small stuff, not tracking that Jerry bee missed pollinating that violet.

When I say I would not be me without you, this constant exchange—both of us becoming our best—is what I'm pointing to. I listen carefully, imagining what could rock your world. Sometimes I ask for clarification. Often you answer.

I write what rocks my world as I imagine it matching up with yours.

We cross-pollinate. In reels, in the Zoom room, in my Newsletter and Substack. The giving and receiving goes both ways. We grow in conversation.

This is the best of relationship. The joy we receive, the thoughts that are sparked—we take this sweetness into our days. Share it with friends.

We allow our hearts to be moved.

And we move together. In love. In joy. In the busy dance of words spilling onto and being picked up from the page.

I thank you for bee-coming with me. :)