TGIM: Community Garden

Welcome back to Thank God It’s Monday!

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tl;dr If we as individuals were plants, it would be evident how strong of an impact the environment had on us. The quality of the soil, the strength of the sun, and the proximity of other plants all impact our growth. We as humans are similarly affected by our communities, but don’t always nurture the situation as such.

I have been hung up on the importance of community recently, maybe because of coincidence or divine intervention, however you want to look at it. But the ubiquitous nature of community in every facet of our lives has been increasingly evident, and I think it might answer some questions we can’t seem to find the answers to.
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Why can’t you maintain your weight loss? Why can’t you stop binge drinking? Why can’t you quit smoking? Why do you keep taking from the candy bowl at work? Why can’t you get to bed earlier? Why can’t you seem to stick to your budget?

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I will preface the answer to these questions with the fact that you have to take extreme ownership of your actions, and you will not be able to change. (You will not be able to change things you consciously or subconsciously deem out of your control.) But that’s a topic for another newsletter.
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Beyond taking ownership of your actions, the community is a major contributing factor to these questions. Why can’t you maintain your weight loss? Because you’re surrounded by the people and environment that led you to gain and maintain your weight. Why can’t you stop binge drinking? Because you’re hanging out with the same friends with the same weekend plans. And so on.

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Community is a powerful tool to assist you in the right direction or nudge you back to your same habits. Consider when you’re at your most vulnerable. Exhausted from work, fatigued from social gatherings, and angry from sitting in traffic, you get home, and all of your goals are hanging by a thread. What determines your actions?
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Your community. The people who surround you and the environment you’re in will push you in a direction. What direction will depend on how you structure that environment when you do have the ability to manipulate it. The people you choose to spend time with, the places you choose to spend time, and the way you choose to spend your energy all affect the community you immerse yourself in.

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This has been a theme that has seemed to recur frequently in the last couple of weeks of my life. Of course, as I was preparing to write this newsletter today, on my way into work, the podcast I put on had an incredible example of what a community can be.
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The episode was an interview with Dr. Bennett and T. Morgan Dixon, who created Girl Trek, one of the most inspiring stories of a community I’ve ever heard. It is a health movement and organization focused on Black women, encouraging them to walk for physical and mental well-being, community building, and social justice.
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It starts with the basic principle of encouraging women to walk for 30 minutes per day. They want the participants to gather their family and friends to walk with them. Once they’ve integrated into the community, they are encouraged to become leaders in to recruit even more people to join their walks. And the motivation is supposed to be both for physical well-being and to promote justice. As Dixon said in the interview, on the days she doesn’t feel like walking, she remembers Harriet Tubman, the inspiration for Girl Trek, who walked for freedom and her community. This adds a moral and social component to the community beyond just walking to feel and look a certain way. In 2020, Girl Trek had its one millionth member join the walk.
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I am not doing the community of Girl Trek justice with that brief description, so I highly encourage you to listen to the podcast recommendation. But the point of the movement is clear: you can create enormous change with community building using accountability, self-efficacy, motivation, and inspiration.

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While I’d love to see Walsh Wellness help one million people one day, I hope you can all find a community both here and wherever it serves your goals. Find people who encourage you to be better. Immerse yourself in environments that stimulate growth. Join communities that will nudge you in the right direction when you are at your wits’ end. Because at the end of the day, we’re all just plants being nourished by the environment around us.
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If you found some value in this, please share it with a friend you think would enjoy it! And let me know if you’d like to be added to get TGIM.​
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This week, my podcast recommendation is new from 10% Happier with Dan Harris, “The Science of Motivation: How to Make Habits That Actually Stick with T. Morgan Dixon and Dr. Gary Bennett.”
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With that, hit reply and let me know what kind of community you’re looking for.
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Until next time,

Shannon