Finding & Creating Community

Hi all:

Before I jump into the meat of my note, we are moving forward with the training through Prevention. Action. Change. We’re combining the two trainings listed below into one evening class from 5:30-8:00. If you’re interested, let me know. I’m taking a poll on two dates: Tuesday, April 15th or Thursday, May 1st. The cost will depend on how many people sign up, but should be around $40. Email me ASAP if you’d like to get on the list. I’ll be choosing the most popular date tomorrow.

Prevention. Action. Change. is a Portland-based organization focused on helping individuals, groups, and communities prevent, interrupt, respond to, and heal from harassment, assault, and abuse.

Active Ally Training: Come together to gain awareness and skills to safely and effectively intervene when you witness harm to an individual or group. From microaggressions and identity-based harassment to interactions with I.C.E., this training will give you the tools to assess situations, understand your options, and intervene effectively where possible.

De-escalation training: helps participants share and practice skills to intervene safely to prevent and respond to escalation in a range of settings. Individuals share and gain skills in grounding and adrenaline management, situational and self-assessment, boundary setting, and safe and effective de-escalation in situations ranging from microaggressions to verbal and physical threats of harm.

Also, have you been thinking about this idea of mentoring youth recently arrived in Maine? If yes, reach out to me. We’re just about to kick off training (it’s very short, like maybe two hours) for a new mentor/mentee cohort.

As our country continues lurching into crazy town, I’m finding solace in new places.

Two friends and I have started a writing group and a practice this month is to write down one thing a day that we find beautiful. It’s lovely to reflect at day’s end on what beauty I’ve brushed up against. Here are two examples from the past week:

• Walking through the Detroit airport, heading home, watching the orange sun set through the airport windows.

• Croci sighting in Portland while walking the pups.

Additionally, another friend is hosting a small Jewish study group to better understand the meaning of prayer. Last night was our first gathering and I brought up that I don’t believe in a traditional God so what is it I pray to? Rachel, the leader, reflected back to me that she sees my spirituality coming from time in nature and the connections that I feel to something bigger, blossom there. This is true, for sure. And also through meditation, I access a higher spiritual essence. I’m looking forward to exploring these questions more deeply over the next few months.

I’ve been feeling a bit stuck with writing this column recently and maybe it’s because I’ve been traveling and away from the trail and adventuring life, which is where I find inspiration. As a pivot, I am contemplating exploring issues relating to aging (yay! and ugh), changing bodies (mostly ugh), and maybe even sex (yay!). But maybe you’re not interested in that? Still of course, writing a lot about adventuring. Happily, there are more and more columns and resources around menopause and staying well and healthy as our bodies move through the decades. I’ll think on it. There’s also the quandary of how much I share and how vulnerable I’m willing to be. As I’ve said before, the more we normalize the hidden stuff and the more we shine a light on our imperfections, the less bad they seem and the healthier we are knowing these tend to be shared experiences, shared shames, and shared challenges. But still, it’s scary to write this stuff down and hit the publish button.

Happy adventuring,

Gillian