vision statement (2018 update)
18 Jan 2018in the fall of 2016, i participated in the holistic vision program at infinite growth. the workshop changed my whole life in more ways than i may ever be able to describe. during my 2017 annual retreat (which reviews 2016 and plans for 2017), i finalized my first vision statement. in my 2018 annual retreat (which i haven’t yet written about in summary form, but will soon), i revised the statement based on a year of implementation and learning. below is the update.
i’m posting this publicly both as an experiment (if i put this out in the world, will i get explicit and real support in making it into a reality?) but also so i can easily get to it when i’m moving about in the world. i also imagine i will show it to people from time to time (though maybe i should just put it on my personal website… agh! done is better than perfect so rather than overthink that, let me just get on with it here and now).
ps - this feels super vulnerable. 😬 what if people think i’m weird as fuck for this? or what if there’s a glaring, oppressive gap in this somewhere? doing it anyways…
Values
My core values are love/justice, community, and transformation. Other values that are important to me are self-determination, equity, and diversity.
Short Vision
In the future (2041):
I will be known in my community as loving, supportive, strategic, and visionary. My community will be diverse, interdependent, and creative. The planet will be resilient, free, and successfully balance chaos and order.
Extended Vision
In the future (2041):
I will be known in my community as loving, supportive, strategic, and visionary. In my work towards justice for the planet and people, the legacy of my work in my community will show that I am loving and care deeply about supporting others. That support will be visible from the micro (1on1) to the macro (facilitation of large groups). I will be trusted as someone who can think critically and move effectively towards systemic goals in systems of all sizes. I will be known as someone who creates space for vision (the visions of others as well as my own) by being aligned with myself and the truest self of others.
My community will be diverse, interdependent, and creative. My community will have many different types of people (ability, race, gender, class, culture, age, location, etc.) who understand and lean into their inextricable connectedness while also holding their own unique differences and wholenesses. Our interdependence on each other and the broader non-human world is one of the sources of our creativity. This creativity (as well as love for each other) must be harnessed to keep us moving towards a better world that also supports us to be more human humans.
The planet and places humans live will be resilient, free, and hold both chaos and order. Life will be understood as change. Ecosystems at all scales will have enough complexity and biodiversity to handle significant shocks while continuing their capacities to carry life. But not just any life; non-self-terminating life, life that is increasingly able to experience liberation, freedom.1 Humans will learn to recognize, accept, and align with the reality that all successful life is a perpetual dance of chaos and order.2
- My personal definition of liberation: joy untouched by fear. Drawing on the words of Nina Simone via “Freedom Is a Feeeling! Freedom Is No Fear!” – Nina Simone – New York, 1968, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPD8f2m8WGI.
- “But it is also a world that seeks order. When chaos erupts, it not only destroys the current structure, it also creates the conditions for new order to emerge. Change always involves a dark night when everything falls apart. Yet if this period of dissolution is used to create new meaning, then chaos ends and new order emerges.” Margaret Wheatley. Leadership Lessons for The Real World. 2006. http://margaretwheatley.com/articles/leadershiplessons.html
words / writing / post-processing
350w / ? / 10min