Build a Better Building
New Year Energy
We love the new year energy and are so happy to be back with all of you here in 2024. Before and during our holiday Break, Sarah and Beth shared that they are choosing a word of the year1Sarah’s switched her word of the year from “Less” to Cherish. Beth’s is Citrus. When we shared their words on Instagram, many of you shared yours as well and we thought they were so lovely that we wanted to share some here:
Acceptance. Balance. Be Curious. Begin. Breathe. Choose. Compliment. Delight. Embrace. Engage. Enough. Explore, Fearless. Flourish. Focus. Free. Freedom. Kayak. Kind. Intentional. Lean in. Light. Joy. No. Nurture. Play. Push. Present. Regenerate. Resiliency. Resourceful. Roll. Savor. Simplify. Small. Transition. Zest.2
I wasn't planning on choosing a word for 2024. I've strayed away from the practice for several years, partly because the pandemic and a baby made my world fairly unpredictable. I decided to work on being better at adapting to my needs of a given day or week rather than setting more long-term intentions.
But, as happens sometimes, a word came for me.
As I settled into my first child's pose in my first yoga class of the year on the morning of January 1st, I suddenly knew my word for 2024.
Build.
A lot of the last few years of my life have been about dismantling structures and routines with which I was familiar and comfortable. It's been healthy, good work, and while I'm still healing from and readjusting to some of that change, it's time to start being intentional about what I want my next phase of life to look like.
We moved to a new city last year; I want to build a community here. I want to do the boring but necessary work of building the logistical framework of life in a new place: finding healthcare providers I like, being intentional about trying new local restaurants, and being able to drive around town without needing directions.
I want to build stronger relationships within my home and beyond. I think we're finally beyond the true desperate survival mode of parenting an infant (although Sarah is correct that toddlers are terrorists); I want to build daily structure again - this time in a way that serves me and moves me forward, rather than forcing myself through a checklist. I want to build a regular skincare routine. I started practicing yoga regularly for the first time in a decade; I want to build that practice and continue getting physically stronger. I want to build traditions and memory-making experiences in big ways, like travel, and small ways, like regular family brunches at the diner near our house.
I'm cognizant that build is an ambitious word. I don't want to bite off more than I can chew; that was my modus operandi for most of my life. I'd like to retain and build on the lessons of flexibility and freedom I learned in the last few years. I want to build things that serve me in this season and not feel so pressured about them that they need to stay forever. I want to learn to build in a healthier, more sustainable way.
Basically, I want to build a better building process in 2024.
We love hearing when you also have More to Say about a trend, news story, or topic we discuss on the show. On our episode, “Choosing Hope to Close 2023” Beth asked, “what can we learn from the good work that's being done for young people and carry that forward in their immediate future? I believe that work will be with them for the rest of their lives, which is a wonderful thing about our school systems. Where can we take this next? How can we keep this trajectory going?”
Kristina answered about her work at Cornell and shared some of her insights with us.
Good afternoon,
I am a long-time listener of the show and was recently (June 2023) hired as part of a new team at Cornell University known as the Community Response Team. College students are considered an at-risk group for mental health disorders and stress. Add this to leaving home, finding new friends, exploring their sexuality, having access to alcohol, and managing their schedules for the first time, and I think we can all agree that we as a society are asking a lot of these emerging adults.
The Community Response team consists of four mental health professionals operating within the Division of Public Safety at Cornell University to provide crisis mental health care after hours when most other support services, such as our counseling center, are closed.
Our goal is to provide students with intentional, individualized, inclusive, supportive care to reduce involuntary transfers to our local hospital while ensuring that students are safe for the RIGHT NOW and then connecting them with our college support services through the Dean of Students. We currently operate as a co-response model that responds alongside our University Police officers. However, the end goal is to respond alone to all non-violent calls on campus that do not require a sworn officer. This team was created by the President of the College, Martha Pollack, at the express request of the student, faculty, and staff members of the Public Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC) in response to the George Floyd murder and following the unrest in 2020.
The team hopes to lessen the stigma of mental health, reduce involuntary transfers, build an infrastructure of kindness (hat tip to Ann Napolitano) across the Cornell campus pertaining to the stress and struggles of college students, and improve the mental morale of the campus through engagement, education, and animal-assisted primary interventions.
Crisis mental health response teams are a newer idea that several colleges are adopting, and I think it is imperative that parents and individuals know that these teams exist and that if your child (or you, if you were a non-traditional student like myself) is attending a university that this is an important support to know about.
Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to read this. Thank you for all you do at Pantsuit Politics, and I can't wait to hear what you're bringing us in the new year.
Sincerely,
Kristina
Copyright (C) 2024 Pantsuit Politics. All rights reserved.
Sarah and Beth’s Word of the Year practice is inspired by a workshop and practice by Ali Edwards (who is also an Executive Producer of Pantsuit Politics) called One Little Word
If that isn’t enough inspiration the Merriam-Webster dictionary Instagram account has a reel for you, I got “fajita” -Maggie.