Shelter in Place. Flattening the curve. Quarantines. Not six weeks ago, this terminology was unknown to most of us. Today, these ideas are dominating most of our conversations and weighing on our minds as we make critical decisions in our lives.
For the past several years, I’ve traveled the country, training leaders in the addiction and recovery fields on community organizing and leadership as the Director and Creator of The Communities Project. I have visited over 50 different locations in 30 states, and trained nearly 2,000 individuals.
The work is gratifying. It is inspiring to participate in a conversation with individuals, many of whom have, like me, endured active addiction, and are now using their personal experience as a platform to help others. Making an investment in others and beginning a dialogue that includes a discussion of how to use leadership and organizing principles to better their communities is an unbelievably powerful experience.
And so much of this power is derived from sharing a physical space with these leaders, and thriving off the energy that such a space creates.
In early March, I was flying back to Seattle from Washington D.C. where we had just held a powerful leadership training, and I was contemplating the amazing opportunities that stood before us in 2020. An additional ten trainings were already on the calendar for the year, and even more were in the earliest stages of development. The coaching conversations that were taking place with training attendees in the weeks that followed our gatherings were powerful, and my faith in the curriculum and its ability to have a profound impact was growing stronger by the day.
Covid19 was discussed at that DC training, but to that point, most of us were simply unaware of what precisely was in store in the days to come. Within a few days of returning to Seattle, an early April training on our schedule was cancelled. Several days later, early May was postponed. Then mid-May. And later, early June.
I found myself sitting on my couch at home with a profound sense of grief and loss, of disappointment. I love the work that I get to do — traveling from city to city, meeting amazing people, seeing what recovery looks like across the country, and learning how the challenges we face are so similar nationwide.
To lose the opportunity to train in person for an unknown period of time was something I was having difficulty accepting. In building a life centered around investing in people at the front lines of the addiction crisis in America, I feared that our effectiveness would not be possible given the realities of Covid19.
I found myself sitting on my couch at home with a profound sense of grief and loss, of disappointment. I love the work that I get to do — traveling from city to city, meeting amazing people, seeing what recovery looks like across the country, and learning how the challenges we face are so similar nationwide. To lose the opportunity to train in person for an unknown period of time was something I was having difficulty accepting. In building a life centered around investing in people at the front lines of the addiction crisis in America, I feared that our effectiveness would not be possible given the realities of Covid19.
I also remembered one primary fact — I am 100% committed to making an investment in the leaders who have chosen to attend a training and make an investment in themselves. And because I stand fully behind this commitment, Covid19 will not prevent me from showing up and finding every possible means to be effective.
Being committed to something means that circumstances will not dictate whether or not we show up. We may change the vehicle we take to get to our destination, but we continue moving forward regardless.
In every training hosted by The Communities Project, we discuss what it means to be truly committed to a goal. We discuss commitment versus passion, and how commitment is more significant because it’s where the action takes place. And most importantly, if one is steadfast in their commitment to achieving a goal, any circumstances that arise will not affect whether someone continues taking action.
Naturally, there will be times when circumstances force us to alter our aim. For example, we can be in a relationship with another person, be committed to that person and work through any number of challenging circumstances. However, the circumstances surrounding the relationship may change in some way where we no longer have a desire to show up. We can go through a big move, a change in the routine of our children, the loss of a family member or loved one. These are all inevitable realities of life — and they may change our commitment to certain goals. It is critical to understand that a change in our commitments does not warrant judgement — it is merely a change in our commitments. We can own that change, acknowledge the circumstances, be honest with ourselves and those around us, and move forward to our next commitment.
For me, the circumstances surrounding Covid19 does nothing to alter my commitments. In fact, Covid19 has created an opportunity to examine and reaffirm the strength of those commitments. As substance use continues to profoundly impact our communities — even more so as social isolation has triggered complicated emotions in so many of us — the need to continue investing in strong leaders has never been more significant.
As we move forward, The Communities Project will adjust the vehicles through which we carry out our commitments. While in person gatherings have been our primary training module to date, we are now examining and developing a digital training format to use for many of our 2020 trainings, adding this to our programmatic repertoire for 2021 and beyond.
Through this difficult time, I am grateful for the opportunity to reexamine the things to which I am truly committed. Having lived through active addiction, and now living in active recovery, the opportunity to invest in leaders who are helping communities is too rewarding to pass up. No virus will prevent me or The Communities Project from maintaining our commitment to leaders.
