This week’s newsletter is a day late.
I spent the last few days solo parenting while a stomach bug tore through our house. This isn’t a story about the professional side of my life, it is absolutely a story about the importance of community.
My daughter started to feel better around two in the afternoon, and by four, I was the one fading fast. I was lying on the couch, staring at the ceiling, trying to figure out how in the world I was going to get through the evening with two small kids by myself. If you know me at all, you know that asking for help is not my forte. I laid there and spent way too long trying to strategize how I could power through on my own but, let’s be real, I could barely stand up. There was no muscling my way out of this one. So I picked up my phone.
I called a friend in the neighborhood whose kids go to school with ours and asked if she could grab my son and bring him home. I called my next-door neighbor and asked if she could slide a quesadilla under the door so my kids had dinner. I called my mom and asked if she could come in the morning, pack lunches, and take the kids to school.
Then I turned on a movie and threw some puzzles on the floor praying to get through the next two and a half hours.
Each of these things seems small on its own, but without them, that night and the next morning would have looked very different. My kids are four and six. They’re not fully independent yet, but they did great. And when I finally started to come out of the fog the next day, I felt an immense wave of gratitude for the people who showed up without hesitation.
In a world full of followers and impressions and the idea of community, it really comes down to the moments that aren’t glamourous. When people show up in a moments notice without question. And these communities are built day by day in the small interactions we choose to invest in.
… You never know when you’ll be stuck on the couch staring down bedtime, praying someone will slide a warm ‘dilla under the door to save the day.
In other news:
On the podcast, we sat down with Branca Ballot to talk about leaving a big job without a clear plan for what comes next and how to stay steady in the messy middle instead of sprinting your way out of it. If you haven’t listened yet, you can subscribe here.
This month’s Arcadia Luminary is Wlll Taylor. In his interview, he talked about how progress rarely comes from thinking. It comes from action. He shared how he’s been applying that inside Arcadia and how that perspective has shaped his career. Read the full interview here.
Next month inside the Constellation, we’re bringing in Kat Hill Contagfor a session on AI and how GTM teams can actually build with it and practical, bite-sized ways to get started.
If you’ve been on the fence about joining the Constellation, consider this your nudge. A year from now, you’ll be glad you took a step toward the version of life you’ve been trying to build. You can join us here.
Be great,
Sam
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