I believe in you.

No caveats. You got this.

I believe in every one of us.

Starring into our messy sewing drawer, or still-uncut lawn, or van that needs its oil changed, or the emails piling up (which is my typical excuse for not writing here), it’s easy to only see chaos and busyness.

But that sewing drawer just looks like opportunity to repair something instead of trashing it. The lawn hardly matters. The oil change will only take half an hour in the driveway and that van means freedom.

It all piles and piles but one thing is certain: I believe in you. I believe in us.

I hear so much frustration, constantly. It’s true that the world, at least if you look at any current event, is in shambles. Yesterday, as I was eating my Cook Out lunch in a dilapidated strip mall parking lot with my window down, I thought: “this is nobody’s idea of good. Look broader, at everything going on. There isn’t even one person that looks around at the world today and says “yep, we’re good!”

It’s very easy to conclude that most everyone has simply given up. But I don’t think so. I believe in you.

Take my daily, easy win: run club. I believe, so much, in this group of people who show up for themselves and each other every week. It’s just a couple hours to be together but the camaraderie compounds over time. I hope nobody feels alone, crowded together on the gravel shoulder of a busy street running or with three tables pushed together at the bar after, shoulder-to-shoulder with each other and every toddler, dog, and fragile glass pint in the mix.

I believe in you a lot more, though.

I believe that you’re pouring so much into what’s actually important every day. Getting your kids fed each morning and being present with them is more important than any work meeting you feel bad missing. Cancel the meeting. It should have been an email anyway.

I believe that we all want a better community. We want safe sidewalks to walk on and places to go. I know, too, that you don’t have time or energy to take action. Almost none of us can attend evening committee meetings or hollow “work sessions” in the name of change. If our leaders actually represented our concerns, we wouldn’t have to. We shouldn’t need to.

Even beyond that, what if your employer doesn’t agree? It’s way more important to keep a job than be vocal about progress.

I believe that we’re all striving in ways nobody else sees. Take social media, because it’s an easy example: it’s pretty dead these days. There’s anger and hate, for sure, but that doesn’t do anything good. The smart ones among us have logged off. I’m still there, of course.

We can’t worry ourselves if people don’t interact or buy our thing. I work in marketing: that often means sales—at scale.

Unless it’s essential, in ways only groceries and gas are, anybody that buys “nice to haves” now should be celebrated. It’s a statement against chaos to give someone a gift or buy a coffee out. I know we’re all doing the very best we can. You deserve that coffee, too.

I believe that your commitment to travel, to go out into nature with phones off and not a soul in sight, or that time you take away from it all to read a book—whatever you need that makes the world better for you—is essential. Those moments are probably all that’s holding you together some days, so please: take the time.

“I believe” we can offer each other so much more grace.

Be a steward to those around you. Be kind when others won’t. Hide away when you need to, so you can be the best version of you when it’s time to be there.

A lot of what I’ve written here so far comes back to community and grace. Since I wrote about Building Community in Tough Times in February, things certainly aren’t any better. But we’re still here and growing in good ways.

If we offer more grace, too, we can all be better. We might even be able to Lessen Each Others’ Burdens, when we have the strength.

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I’ve been really bad about writing here lately. Life and work are busier than ever and I’m grateful to lean into all of it. Trying to write weekly over the summer just proved too much and I gave myself the grace to not force it. I’m back for now and hopeful, though.