May 2023

I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.

— Mother Teresa

Patience … has never been a strength of mine. Yet partnerships and teamwork both take time. Lots of time. This is the reason why I have avoided them. But what have I learned from doing everything on my own – it is exhausting and can potentially lead to burnout. Because of all my responsibilities at Platform, home, and workplace, that is trying to do everything on my own, I have developed several health issues. I know, I know. I write about and teach the importance of self-preservation but rarely, if ever, do I heed my own advice. But in my defense, caring for my mom with dementia is something I had not planned. It just happened and rather than changing my life around this new reality, I bulldozed head forward with all my existing responsibilities, adding more rather than cutting out. Hence, my health issues.

I have been working towards creating more partnerships, learning to let go of my need to control. Partnerships may take a while to establish and force us to compromise but at the end of the day, they allow us to fully use everyone’s strengths so that we are stronger and more impactful. It’s the difference between one dog mushing as opposed to a dozen dogs. Too little and you won’t get anywhere; too many and you may end up with uncontrollable power; just the right number, about a dozen, and you will have a formidable team.

We are currently reaching out to our community partners to market our summer youth program, Activism@Work. If I was doing the marketing by myself, I may potentially burn out before we even get to June but if our partners help us, I will hopefully be rejuvenated by the start of the program.

Our partners are indispensable, but we need to be patient to develop these relationships and open to compromises.  We will be stronger because of these bonds, and I will definitely be healthier.

Samantha Joo

May 2, 2023