I want to talk about the paradox and the complexity of balancing the self and the collective. As an extroverted, recovering lone wolf, I realized one of the hardest aspects about learning what it is to be safe

be resilient while feeling interconnected. Leaning into reciprocity and mutual aid is that one has to be able to balance two important truths in their lives. The first one being that you are safe from being alone.

We live in a society where we have a lot of messages that reinforce how dangerous it is to be alone when it comes to survival. Our ancestors

found a lot of strength in gathering and being connected with the community. Because if you're left out, then you may not have the resources, you may not have food, you may not have a network of support. You may be more likely to be hunt down by a different tribe. You may be prone to predators in the wild to attack you.

But in the modern world, that safety feels a little bit different. It's important to remind ourselves when we are alone that we are actually safe. That we don't have to fall back into our fight or flight patterns. That we don't have to be in survival.

It's safe to be alone. It's okay to be alone. And being alone is always part of the journey, and there's nothing wrong. You're not a loner, and you're not weird. You're not anti-social. It's just perfectly normal. It's so important to drop the binary of good versus bad, like it's better.

to be with folks. It's better to have big groups of friends. It's better to not be alone at a party. And something that I'm also learning at the flip side of this is that you don't have to be alone. Recognizing that while it's safe to be alone, this life is hard as it is. There's so many twists and turns that

You deserve to surround yourself with people. That we need each other. We need people in our lives that can help us. And I'm not just talking about like our close family members. I'm not just talking about partners. That we need our communities.

We need a web work of individuals who can be reciprocal, can provide mutual aid to each other, especially at times of uncertainty and times of crisis. And it's through holding these two contradicting truths is how we

We actually have the foundational ground, the root soil that's hold us together and hold us to stand strong. Even through the harshest winters, the harshest storms. And it's just something I'm sitting with today.