Learning to Walk with People, Not Around Them

For the last several years, I’ve chosen a word or phrase to guide my life each year. This year, I did not. I did not have the capacity to choose one. I was recovering from a flood. I was uprooting and replanting my life and family in a new region. I was navigating a career pivot, trying to make new friends, saying goodbye to others, and learning how to keep showing up for my people in the midst of it all.

But there are 42 days left in 2025, and I want to live each one with intention.

My intention is compassion.

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For me, compassion isn’t about being “nice.” It isn’t soft or passive. Compassion is rooted in seeing—really seeing—myself and others in the full complexity of our lives… in joy, in struggle, in uncertainty, in healing. It means refusing to look away from suffering, including my own. It means honoring the truth that my life becomes richer when I choose to walk with people rather than walk around them.

Compassion is presence.

Compassion is courage.

Compassion is connection.

Compassion is action.

For the next 42 days, I want to practice compassion on purpose—toward others, yes, but also toward myself. I want to reflect on the moments, relationships, and experiences that invite me to be more fully human. Each day, I’ll write a short reflection and share it—not because I have it figured out, but because I’m learning.

If you’d like to walk these 42 days with me, you’re welcome here.