Over the last few weeks, I’ve had several occasions to talk about the enormous impact my workplace has had on me, particularly the community connected to it. A few times now, I’ve found myself saying this out loud:
“There’s no me without the Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan. What I mean is, I would not be the version of myself that I am today without their impact.”
I wonder if you feel this way about pivotal people and communities.
Of course, there is a core part of us that would exist across many contexts. We have personalities and ways of moving through the world that feel distinctly our own. But there are also particular people and communities that shape us into the specific versions of ourselves. Without them, we would not become quite the same people.
They influence how we see the world. They create landscapes of affection, care, memory, humor, and grief within us. They shape what moves us, what makes us laugh, what we notice, and what we long to discover. If we pay attention while we are dreaming, celebrating, processing difficulty, or making decisions, we can trace the presence of transformational people and communities. They shape our stories. They create spaces where we grow skills, capacities, and ways of thinking that we likely did not have before.
For me, the Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan is one of those pivotal communities. I would not be the version of myself that I currently am without the people who have formed me here. And I suspect many of us have communities and people like this.
So now I’m wondering:
Who is in your life without whom you would not be the version of yourself that you currently are?
—Renee Roederer
Smuggling Grace 