Sustainable You

… it will do no good to deplete ourselves as we are depleting our natural resources. The better alternative is to keep looking for the answers to how we sustain both. Lisa Bennett

This invitation to consider how we replenish ourselves comes from Lisa Bennett’s latest edition of her newsletter Extreme Thriving. It is the inspiration for this cycle of sevens’ Rest edition.

Lisa is co-author of Ecoliterate, writes about developing resilience and creating a positive impact in a changing world. (You can see how her interests dovetail with mine.)

it will do no good to deplete ourselves

was a timely personal reminder. Whether we are parenting, creating a sustainable newsletter rhythm, launching our next cohort-based class, or writing that best-seller. And a particularly important alert for those in climate trying to work faster than the earth is warming. We need to pace ourselves so we do not burn ourselves out.

Replenish.
It can be a walk in nature. A stretch. A love affair with a book. A visit to a museum. A cuddle and laughing fit with that toddler.

This is the 10th cycle of our Rest editions. A pause every seventh, designed to create a reflective break. Each contains an idea of how to incorporate active recovery into our lives. Additionally, in a world where we have information coming at us 24/7, I invite you to stop … and look back at the past six editions.

For those Tribe Tilt readers who have been with me since the last Rest edition 63: Why Rest, Why Seven?, are there new connections and themes that you noticed? Is there a serendipitous connection with someone or something else you are reading, or work you are doing? I am curious.

The surprise hit of this past sequence of seven was E69: May you trust you are exactly where you are meant to be. The muse must have called it right — it seems to be the message many of our tribe needed to hear. While so many are using the first week of the new year to frantically plan their Future Me, here was an invitation to slow down and appreciate being “in the moment”.

For some organized entrepreneurs it was a reminder to make space for the serendipity that unfolds over the year while launching new ventures. Then there were those who appreciated the haunting simplicity of the words.

All the more surprising when you learn that these words were written by a young girl aged 24 … in the late 1800s. Timeless wisdom for timeless angst.

YEAR-END

Santa riding in on a bullock cart caught a number of you by surprise in Celebrating, Gathering, Community (E67). I shared a celebration story from my previously published book.

The power of using the word NO as a filter — so that we can then devote ourselves to the projects most important — generated a lot of discussion in My 2022 review (E68)

FUTURE OF WORK (FoW) and 21st-century skills life strategies:

“You made me think,” was the underlying response to these three posts. They were designed to introduce some thought bytes that I will expand upon in a deeper FoW essay. There is a team of Tribe members working behind the scenes to help me polish it for publication later this month.

• E64: Shifts seep into existence — It started with an invitation to explore the technologies and developments that have gradually redefined your workflow.
• E65: History smooshes stuff — Probably the most comment- and retweet-inspiring edition in this set of three. Your grandchild in 2050 might learn about Covid through a single paragraph in their history book. This caught the imagination of many — that the total global angst we have all lived through over the past three years might be collapsed into a few flat words.
  History vs Historical thinking. I liked this response from Thomas Carey “ We are trying to shift (tilt?) the conversation in Higher Ed from teaching History to teaching Historical Thinking: “the capability to apply insights about the past to help us understand the present and shape the future”. Learners who develop this capability can contribute distinctive value on diverse project teams, especially in workplace innovation projects where we know that more diverse teams can be more likely to create breakthrough innovations.
• E66: Becoming — explored the transition state when we are no longer here, but not yet settled into being there.

I learned from each of you that these are indeed thoughts worth exploring and conversations worth engaging in.

RAISING FUTURE-READY LEADERS:

A continuing conversation on 21st-century skills. And a specific focus on becoming more productive by programming intentional rest interrupts into our 365/24/7 lives.

CLIMATE AND SUSTAINABILITY:

For our newer Tribe Tilt members, my specific intention around climate is to communicate in a way that inspires agency while increasing the drumbeat of urgency.

In my 2022 review (E68) I noted a positive trend with more voices amplifying the discussion around sustainability. I am not alone. Katherine Hayhoe, Chief Scientist of the Nature Conservancy, also notices this “exponential growth in reporting” (highlights are mine):

To borrow from an earlier post

“Hope makes vision possible. Vision is what makes discussion possible.
We only lose if we give up hope.”

augmented by David W Reynolds:

I like this line — “ Vision is what makes discussion possible.”
Your words served as a catalyst for some additional/extended thoughts.
“Discussion empowers action.
Action creates change.
Change validates hope.
Hope generates vision.
Vision starts discussion.
Discussion…”
and so on. A great cycle!

Looking to share this newsletter with a friend? This edition gives them the gift of seven in one.

If you are looking to catch up on older editions, every 7th edition is a review of the previous cycle of seven [ or hit the ‘previous’ arrow at the bottom of this post] with the added bonus of how to incorporate an intentional rest break into our busy lives. Realize this as a growth strategy, a 21st-century skill, not a waste of time.

A warm welcome to the many new Tribe Tilt members who recently subscribed. You have joined a collaborative, vocal, and supportive community that believes we can make a difference to the people and places that are precious to us. New here? Come join us. Please subscribe In a substack surprise, I got my first paying subscriber recently! The newsletter is free, so I will not collect on his offer. But it was a great vote of confidence. Thank you, Danny. Stay warm and healthy, everyone. (For Leanne, Laila, Leo, John, Nic, and all in the Southern Hemisphere, stay cool.) I’ll see you next week.
Karena

Originally published at https://tiltthefuture.substack.com on January 13, 2023.