Literacy Lessons

We need tools to survive and thrive. Tools solve problems and the bigger problems you help solve the more value that gets created. And that value is reflected in businesses built, assets accumulated, experiences had...what that value truly buys is freedom, flexibility, and choices.

Literacy is a tool. The ability to understand what's happening around us, the information we see, the words on the page and in the air. That's how we are able to think about where we are and where we're trying to get too. And make a plan around good, thoughtful decision. The better the decisions the better, generally, the outcomes. We need more than the 'concept of a plan,' that's not enough to pass a relatively low bar. Though we know nothing is guaranteed.

Loss makes our planning obsolete, sometimes ridiculously naive in retrospect. There are huge earth shattering losses like 9/11 twenty three years ago now, somehow. The losses caused by that day still add up, tragically. More first responders have died from health problems since that day than on that day. We need to keep their legacy in mind and do whatever we can to help support them and remember them. Grief stays with us but it's not the same for everyone in every situation. Maybe it goes higher, maybe it goes lower.

Sometime the grief is palpable, immediate:

If we don't have the literacy around it, we don't know how to handle it. How to make the best decisions for ourselves to honor the legacy of those we lost. And that would be a shame. There has been more and more conversations on this topic - companies like Empathy serve the needs of those who have suffered loss. Daniel Crosby, Ph.D. had Kathi Balasek, MA on this eye opening podcast -

I'm hosting Kathi on Wednesday the 18th at 12:30 EST in a Linkedin Live Audio to talk about all these issues and how to help ourselves and help others with the tools to be grief literate. I hope you join us and engage in this conversation

Loss is a fact of life. I've never been tested, never had to knock on wood. We're all afraid of what we might find out, that's natural. But we don't have the luxury, especially in these times. The past year of heavy grief so many in our communities have faced, on a global and local level, has been overwhelming for many. We will dance again but how? And how can we do it without dishonoring those taken from us, some still held from us? These are hard times with hard questions. No-one has all the answers but we need to keep talking, keep smiling, keep dancing; even though it hurts.

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