Every time I see the Pride rainbow, it reminds me to celebrate my own weirdness — and to love & make space for the eccentricities of others.
Thank all that is good in this universe for the people who have been brave enough to do it anyway. Thank you to the people like William Dorsey Swann and Marsha P. Johnson, to the warriors & survivors of the AIDS epidemic, to the the Daughters of Bilitis and to the Mattachine Society.
Connection is impossible without authenticity. Loneliness will persist as long as we keep ourselves quiet, try to fit in, make that one thing we do a bit more palatable for the world, or choose to wear the thing that will draw less attention.
This month, I invite you to practice bravery: to show up, to find the words to share something true out loud, to take up space, to be weird, to be yourself. It might be messy, it might be hard to find the words sometimes — and that’s ok, because connection is also impossible without compassion. I have to trust the people around me to receive my mess with compassion, patience, and an assumption of good will — or at least intentionally surround myself with people who I trust to do that.
(hint: it’s easier to attract those people when you practice the same thing, yourself!)
The world gets incrementally safer and more peaceful the more each of us practice the balance of radical authenticity and radical compassion in every moment of our lives — in every conversation, in every connection. You don’t have to quit your job to do that — though, some of us will. You are a part of the revolution every time you speak your truth, and listen to someone else’s with full presence and attention.
