What progress sometimes feels like

There’s a moment in our work, whether it’s during a particular meeting or whether it’s over the course of a more extended period of time, where the containers that we work to build create space for hard truths to be spoken or revealed.

Things that have been swept under the rug for niceness, people pleasing, fear of conflict, denial and avoidance become visible.

It’s progress, but often it’s so painful, an opening of Pandora’s box, that it doesn’t feel like progress. It feels like things got worse.

But there’s no putting things back in the box, and it can be harmful to try.

We’ve learned not to rush to this point, and to try and be sure that we have the appropriate scope and buy-in to scaffold up to this point… and then scaffold from this point in order to move forward through grief to healing and change.

It’s important to breathe, hold steady, and be able to see the progress while shoring up supports.

“Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced." - James Baldwin.

Banner photo by Risto Kokkonen on Unsplash

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