The Audacity of Choosing A Way of Working That Is Worthy of Us

Pivoting Toward Eachother With Our Offers, Just In Time

Dear Worldbuilder,

The word that seems to be on all of our lips lately is “pivot”. Just in time for eclipse season, just in time for the autumnal equinox, just in time in time for the new moon, just in time for Libra season, just in time for the live stream of the total collapse of every system we once had blind faith in. We are waking up to the news of bombs being more readily available than post-hurricane relief and support. Now tired ass political theatre and “business as usual” is going from unbearable to plain ol’ corny. If the incentives of care, liberation, revolution, decolonization and affordable housing, healthcare and education won’t do it — won’t lift the silence, won’t spark agitation — maybe sheer boredom with the status quo will. Maybe the numbness of despair will be our final straw.

You feel that?

Probably not, we’ve been so conditioned to not feel a thing. We’re so practiced at shutting down our entire nervous system to push through. We’ve been taught to push the grief building up in our throats all the way down to our feet so fear might order our steps. Fear of losing our jobs, fear of losing our homes, fear of losing our minds. But that’s happening anyway and we’re seeing time and time again the only safety net there to catch us is eachother. Neighbors delivering supplies after the hurricane and mutual aid getting us through the storm of this moment; as we watch politicians say everything short of “capitalism is the root cause”, “reparations now”, “the fossil fuel industry must be held accountable”, “America must be held accountable”, “defund the police”, “your taxes are funding genocide”.

“In the context of such enormous structural violence, how was it possible to imagine that a beautiful life is possible? Even more unthinkable was the idea that one might create it, not in the future, but now.”

— Saidiya Hartman, Interview With Rizvana Bradley. Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe pg. 165

You feel that?

Yes you do, that’s the feeling of us pivoting toward eachother. That’s the feeling of us remembering we all we got. That’s the sound of us asking you, “what do you need?” and you asking yourself, “what can I offer?” Yesterday’s workshop inside the Treehouse was titled “Bend Your Time” where we reflected on how we might survive late stage capitalism and perhaps have the audacity to feel good while doing it. We imagined what it might feel like to speculate on the worlds we desire and bend time to pull them toward us, not in the future, but now. We reflected on how we might pivot toward eachother with our offers. Just in time.

In case you missed it, in Episode 60 of the podcast “For the Worldbuilders” I talked about the permission I had to give myself to pivot from 3 offerings back down to 1 inside of Seeda School. In this episode I also talk about how easy it is to fall into a scarcity mindset that often times has us in a habit of post-poning joy.

• When I move to this city then I can…

• When I heal from this then I might attract a partner who will…

• I will have earned a break after I have accomplished…

• I will be able to charge a supportive price for my transformative work when…

Sonya Renee Taylor reminds us every story rooted in scarcity is a lie. There are no prerequisites or “qualifications” to teach what we know to be true beyond white supremacy culture, to offer what our community has told us they need, to share our skills and seeds of wisdom with the folks we dream of serving. We do so much work trying to convince ourselves we are worthy of our desires when, in fact, it is the systems of domination that are unworthy of us. We are worthy of feeling good inside our work and our lives, not in the future, but now.

Inside Seeda School we practice this possibility together. Join us inside the free 2-Part Worldbuilding Workshop Series where you will learn how to seed a world rooted in the truth of your desire then learn how to financially sustain that world through our shared resource: money.

Inside this workshop series you will learn more about your creative practice and The Treehouse, an annual membership with a full year of support in developing, marketing and gently scaling an income generating offer that has the power to expand your capacity while expanding your impact. The first workshop is this Tuesday, October 8th at 12pm EST. I would love to see you there.

With desire,

Ayana

P.S. Feel free to share the flyer below with a friend, lover, co-worker, neighbor you’re pivot with or toward with your offers this fall.