November
“For me, becoming isn’t about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn’t end.”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming
It is finished … well, a draft of the guidebook, workbook, and course program are mostly finished. Now, it is essentially time to revise and design the works for self-publication and marketing. I haven’t even really started the workbook for youths - this will take a little more time and creativity because how can we compete with the barrage of information that is out there. Oh my. I have put everything on hold while I develop this program. I mean everything. I have learned that Benji needs teeth cleaning and that I need a million pairs of glasses because I ignored my eyes which have been on overdrive. I can’t even begin to mention the to-do list for Platform and my other projects. The very thought has given me a headache and anxiety. But I have decided to take a break from everything and go on a little vacation before I plunged into my work again. I know in my body that I will break if I do not pause from work, Platform, and my family commitments. I have been feeling a tingling sensation from the site of my Shingles outbreak a couple of years ago. So I need to heed the messages that my body is clearly sending me or suffer the consequences. And I know the consequences are not that pretty.
The Embodied Presence project is amazing. Not because I have an inflated sense of myself - well, not this time. I have been applying the lessons from the guidebook with graduate students at the institution where I work. Side note - I love to experiment my ideas on people - just ask any of my niblings who are not big fans of my experiments. And I have to be honest, they work. The lessons are not just some abstract, theoretical garbage but lessons from real life instances in which women have to make difficult decisions. I am not saying that it is a surefire solution to every problem but it lays the basis of coming to decisions confronting us as we become effective leaders. To the extent that I am not physically and emotionally equipped to mentor every person, the book contains some of the vast wisdom that I have shared over the years.
In the process of writing the book, I have learned a lot about myself, the team with whom I have worked on the book, Murph Murphy and Lauren Johnson, and the potential of people who have allowed circumstances to blind their gifts. Not being a natural optimist, I constantly surprised myself for believing not in the goodness but the power of people to transform our communities. Mind you, I realize that humans are the culprits in destroying our environment and oppressing each other. But I also believe that humans are the solution IF they just become more aware of their purpose in this world, opening themselves up to the whispers that speaks in and out of our bodies. Why? I refer you to the chapter on Faith and Hope in the Guidebook - coming out soon.
Hopefully, the books will be out soon so the ideas can float out in the world for people to discuss. I would like to find a way to create a space where people can contribute and grow the project - allow them to expand, criticize, and broaden the scope of the project. So ideally, the project will actually never be finished because we have just only started the work.
Samantha Joo, CEO and Founder
November 1, 2021