I took off my crown in the midst of the war, fixed my armor, and grabbed my sword. You thought I gave up, but little did you know, I am a fearless warrior disguised as a queen.

– the silent warrior

There is deep wisdom and an origin understanding among warriors, we who know the scent and tang of tears, who stand like marble pillars of resilience against the crashing waves of a chaotic and unpredictable, contemporary existence. We who tumble against the beachheads of an increasingly volatile reality, the first shoulder to the grindstone, the front that makes and protects the world.

And as we learn harsh lessons and reconcile terrible truths – about humanity writ large – as we choose to lean into the better angels of all our natures, our numbers go up.  Our stock values are high and we are in demand.

We are the trudging ones, bearing the weight of everyday battles, and new not-so-everyday crises of epic proportion that have become our collective new norm in a climate and post-industrial ravaged existence.

We – as in every single human on the planet at this moment – must shift our mission statement from “mine at any cost” to “our’s at all costs” and to choose to act from the appropriate reality of survival of our species – all our species – and that means leaving no one behind. This is a whole new ball game now.

Battling this requires a special kind of resilience and grace, and a whole lot of new conversations and possibilities for doing what must be done.

“Every problem, every dilemma, every dead end we find ourselves facing in life, only appears unsolvable inside a particular frame or point of view. Enlarge the box, or create another frame around the data, and problems vanish, while new opportunities appear.”

– ROSAMUND STONE ZANDER, THE ART OF POSSIBILITY: TRANSFORMING PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL LIFE

We are utility players in the New World order. And we are increasingly NOT the most privileged. We come in all shapes and sizes and colors, and we bear witness to the pipe and engine systems of the details of what’s underneath the surface of society that makes it go. We also see it breaking under our feet because we pay attention, we expose ourselves to truths, and we endure what that means to get to the other side. We run toward the fires.

I’ve learned, as all good warriors do, you can’t live into the full measure of your life or to what may be possible for the world without accepting the truth of what is, and by retaining hope and science as our formula for success.

I have learned hope doesn’t live without fear and pain, and it isn’t an individual sport.

Horror doesn’t kill the sunrise: it merely mars a tiny piece of the landscape. Possibility is everywhere, even and especially in the trenches and the weeds.

It’s getting really interesting now.