Staying Grounded When It’s Hard

I have been trying my darnedest to stay above the treacherous waves of the current political climate.

To keep a calm presence.

To remind myself, this too shall pass.

To say—out loud and often—that what we need is more civic participation.

That the answer isn't at the national level for most of us—it's local.

It's education.

It's showing up where we can.

It's raising up thoughtful people who are willing to represent others well.

I still believe all of that.

But lately, its been tough.

The Turn I've also been telling people that what we need is better conversation.

And to be fair—I have stepped into some of those spaces.

I've sat in on conversations about school vouchers.

I have a discussion on food security coming up.

I've participated in online spaces designed for civil dialogue, mostly with Braver Angels.

So it's not that I'm totally absent from it.

But if I'm being honest…

I haven't stepped into it as fully as I could.

Part of that is uncertainty.

There are areas where I don't feel educated enough to hold strong opinions. I've told myself, "that's not my lane".

And part of it has been prioritizing building Civic Roots. "That's my lane."

But somewhere in that space—between what I'm building, what I'm saying, and how I'm actually showing up—

I've started to feel that gap.

And with it, some discouragement.

Accountability + Commitment

So this feels like a moment for some personal accountability.

There are tools and spaces already available to me—spaces designed specifically to practice thoughtful conversation across disagreement—and I haven't been using them as consistently as I could.

That's something I want to change.

Not just privately, but openly.

Because maybe part of what's missing right now isn't access to better conversations—

but a willingness to step into them, even if not perfectly or as informed as I want to be.

A Wider Lens

Something else that has been tugging at me is that it is easy right now to feel like this moment is uniquely broken.

That we are more divided than we've ever been.

I've said that myself. I have said that to you.

But the more I listen to historians, the more I'm reminded:

we've been deeply divided before.

The American Revolution split loyalties inside families.

The Civil War quite literally tore the country apart.

The 1960s fractured communities, friendships, generations.

Division is not new.

So maybe the question isn't:

"Why are we so divided?"

Maybe the better question is:

"What have we lost in how we handle division?"

What Feels Missing

Because… it feels like something is missing.

Not agreement.

Not uniformity.

But the ability—and maybe even the willingness—

to disagree and still stay in relationship.

To hold tension without turning everything into a battle.

To speak without shouting.

To listen without immediately defending.

That seems harder now.

And I don't think it's just "out there."

I think it's happening inside us, too.

Staying Grounded (For Real)

I've been asking myself:

What does it actually look like to stay grounded in my values right now?

Not perform them.

Not just write about them.

But live them.

So, for me, I think it starts with something very specific:

Being willing to practice the art of real conversations—

instead of writing about having them.

And maybe even more than that—

building some discipline and accountability around using the very platforms and tools I point to.

Not perfectly.

But consistently.

Closing: An Invitation to Practice

I'm not an authority on this.

I'm in it.

Still learning. Still recalibrating.

But I do know this:

If we want a healthier political culture,

it's not just going to come from just better ideas or better leaders.

It's going to come from how we show up with each other.

So this is both a commitment and an invitation.

I'm going to re-engage more intentionally with spaces designed for real conversation—spaces where disagreement is expected, but handled with care.

If you've never explored these kinds of conversations,

or if you've stepped away from them like I did—

maybe this is a moment to step back in.

Not because we're fully ready.

But because we're willing to practice.

Because staying grounded in our values might not just be about what we believe—

but how we engage.

This is where this path started for me, and where I am going to return this week—through a single conversation space that led me to so much more:

Sandbox Political Conversation App

How Civic Roots Began