My Health Educator Team Got Me Through
What does it really mean to be a team? To wear matching sun hats, jerseys, jeans, and Birkenstocks coincidentally like the two on the right? (I have been nervous laughing to keep from crying on the job all year, honestly.)
Liiiisten… this has been a year of serious learning. I have done much of it because I chose to join a team of educators for the first time in a long time a few years ago. It is an understatement to say doing so has been a tough journey, especially this last month. I am still learning as I type this about what it means to be a good team player; to be transparent, authentic and clear, to support and step up and leverage your own strength when a teammate is down; and what you risk or how you make yourself vulnerable when the outcome of what your team aims to achieve is bold and liberating, and so therefore attacked, maligned and invalidated.
Independence, for this reason, can seem like a much more appealing alternative, one I usually take because frankly, my default mode during the past five years has been a deepening distrust. I am embarrassed to admit that, but it is true. My observation of certain people and groups has been that when given a set of choices, even when armed with knowledge, self-awareness and skills, many will not make choices that are compassionate, inclusive, equitable or based on facts/reality. This tendency may arise from the instinct to survive, which for many has been the defining mode for these last eighteen months or longer. This has not been a pretty place to be.
But being on a team, or in a community that has your back, makes dropping back into a mode aimed at thriving possible. Life experience has taught me to be discerning in choosing work teams. And though I have been fortunate to work on some great teams in my life, the one pictured here has faced unprecedented challenges, twists and turns. I could NEVER have gotten through it all, nor will I be able to fully heal and complete this cycle without the unconditional support of these three extraordinary people.
The sun has set on the year and our collective incarnation as a team, but I am so proud of what we have accomplished. And wow am I going to be reflecting on it all and the gifts that don’t always come in bright shiny packaging, forever.
