After nearly 9 years at my last job, I'm starting a new chapter! It has me reflecting on how to navigate new relationships in new spaces and bring your true self to the table. Join me to discuss how we can create safe, empathetic work environments and a sense of belonging for ourselves and our new relationships.
Cadre Sphere will be in my living room rather than where I normally sit. My neighbor is weed whipping and mowing. So hopefully we'll be a little bit quieter for you all. Thanks for coming.
Christy Larson: My word of the day today is fresh. She says she landed a new job with the Minnesota Technology Association next week. Larson: Everywhere she went, she felt better about bringing her authentic self to work. She hopes more people will join her for Happy Wednesday.
Do you have safe spaces in your life? Do you have places where you can truly be your authentic self and bring that peace with you? How can we create these safe spaces for new people in our lives?
So yesterday in the work community, I shared a little bit about power posing. My steadfast power pose is the victory power pose, right? It's really all about boosting my energy and my confidence. I think it's important for you, for all of us, to create safe spaces for others.
Hello, Hello. Hi, Cadre Sphere. Welcome, welcome, welcome. I'm going to give folks just a few minutes to pop in, say hello, happy to be here. Happy to see you, Happy to have you in my living room. We're in a different spot. My neighbor is weed whipping and mowing. And so hopefully we'll be a little bit quieter for you all in my living room rather than where I normally sit, which is by my sliding glass door. Door. So welcome. Thanks for coming. I'm excited to be here with you all. I am sitting here thinking about my word of the day and what did I come across, but my word of the day today is fresh.
So. And there's a few different reasons. I call. I'm, I'm. I'm saying my word of the day is fresh. One of them is that we are cleaning out an extra bedroom and we have fresh paint on the ceiling and fresh paint on the walls. And let me tell you, a little paint can go ways in a house. So if you're ever looking to freshen things up in your house, throw a little, little wall of paint up, it's amazing how, what a difference it makes. But that has been what has freshened up my day today. Also, I'm starting something new next week, so I feel like that fits into the fresh.
It's kind of a fresh new start. And then I went to the market and look it, I got all these yummy fresh vegetables that I'm having. So I decided that that had to be my word today was fresh. So thank you all. Hi, Nikki. Thank you all. Hopefully we'll have more people popping on. I know it's lunchtime and in a busy time, it's the middle of the week. Happy Wednesday. For, for those of you that are joining us today, I'm excited to see you here. I'm Christy Larson, as a reminder, and I have good news, which is fun, right?
We don't always get to celebrate good news, but I have good news today. For those of you that were here with me last week, I shared that I had an interview and I had used my little coin as kind of my go to for knowing that I had a back of people, right? The people that were backing me. And it kind of quieted the anxiety and made me feel a little bit more comfortable. Well, I landed that interview. I was offered that job and accepted it. It is with the Minnesota Technology Association. It's a brand new role.
I'm going to be their program director and I start next week. So yay. It's always fun to be able to celebrate those. And so it's been a week of celebration, but it also kind of got me thinking a little bit about approaching new relationships in new spaces. Right? So I had been at my last job before it closed for almost nine years, and I was really, really comfortable bringing my true, authentic self every single day to work. And it was something that we were allowed to do, we are encouraged to do.
We encouraged the students and alumni to do the same thing, really come to a space where you can be truly yourself. And. And after working with and being with these amazing, empathetic, human centered people that I was lucky enough to do that with, it was really all I became to know, Right? It was really the way of the world for me. Everywhere I went, I felt better about bringing my authentic self. Tough word, I guess, but. And think about that for a minute, right? What kind of world would it be?
And how awesome would it be if everywhere we went and everyone we worked with, we could be our true authentic selves? Wow. Right? Yeah. But in this job, we gave authentically, but we also received each other authentically. And I think that was the coolest part about it. We gave each other safe spaces to cry. We gave each other safe spaces to share a personal story. We had, you know, funny times where someone would show up to a zoom call with knit in their hair and a shower cap on because their kids came with mice.
But we, you know, we laughed a lot and we gave space for one another and it was a safe, safe space. And that really meant a lot. And so now thinking about a new space, right, the anxiety kind of kicks in and you get a little bit nervous about what's next and what that looks like and what that feels like. And I have thought a lot about safe spaces in my life, and I encourage you to think that same thing. Do you have safe spaces in your life? Do you have places where you can truly be your authentic self and bring that peace with you?
And what does the environment look like there? Right? What does that. What do you bring to the table to help foster that environment? And how can we create these safe spaces for new people in our lives? Right. Make sure that they're allowed and they understand that we encourage them to bring their authentic selves and in return want that to be something that they then give us, right. Is the ability to do that. And I think that's. That's a hard thing sometimes to do. And for me, I think, you know, a big part of how I show up every day is I listen intently, right?
I get to know people, I find commonality. I try to build community. I think that's really important. I think always believing in positive intent. Right. Most people want to be caring and loving humans, but unfortunately, sometimes that just isn't the way that they mess it up in their delivery. Right. And then lastly. And honestly, this is probably the easiest for me just because this is my personality. But being myself, being curious, asking questions, being open to sharing ideas and thoughts, and that can sometimes also be a scary space, right?
Because you are showing that vulnerability. But I'll tell you, it really creates an environment where others feel comfortable to do the same thing. So, yeah, I'm terrified to start over. I'm terrified to build that space somewhere else. I had a friend who reached out to me this week and asked how my interview went, and they were in a similar position as me. They were in their job for a long time before it ended and kind of thrust into this new world of like, where do I belong? How do I know who I am right now?
Right. A lot of times our identity is very tied to our titles or our roles or what we do at work. So being thrust into kind of an environment where you're like, oh, where do I belong next? Right. What does that look like? They really struggled with that. And. And I think I did, too, for some time, right. Coming from those. Those spaces where you felt so comfortable. And they ultimately landed in a job that was really different. Different people, different environment, the work was different. And I let them know that I had landed a job and that I was starting on Monday and that I asked, you know, how is your job going?
They've only been there for a couple of weeks now. And I just, how's it going? And they said, it's going okay. I'm learning a lot. I'm still learning a lot, but it's going to get better with time. And I thought, time, how much time? Right. Do we have time to waste savoring and in thinking about those relationships that we had that we want to build again, it was hard, right? It's hard to start over. It's hard to start, especially in a new space where you know people, but you don't know people. You know what you're going to do, but you don't know what to do.
Right. And kind of building those relationships. And luckily, I have known this new team that I'm joining for many years. I worked very closely with. With each of them in different capacities. And so I know that they're amazing humans. I know that they're doing Amazing work. I know that they do so with empathy and grace and put humans first. So I know these relationships are going to be awesome, right? And I know as long as I stay true to my authentic self, I think that it's going to be easier, right?
And truly my authentic self is pretty cool. So let's just. Let's go with that, right? Gotta tell yourself that every now and then. So yesterday in the work community, I shared a little bit about power posing. If you are part of that community, you. You saw my post about that and there was an article that I kind of shared. Just because there are different types of power posing for people. And my steadfast power pose is the victory power pose, right? It's kind of celebrating and it's really all about boosting my energy and my confidence.
It's really about reducing my stress level, right? Putting myself in a space where I'm like, I'm pretty darn awesome, right? I'm pretty darn awesome. So I'm sure this new team is going to see me doing my power pose, because that's what I do. I do my power pose. And who knows, they might even want to join in, which would be kind of cool. But I really want you to take away that. I think it's important for you, for all of us, to create safe spaces for others. Bring your own curiosity and your own authenticity and really, ultimately be kind to yourself.
Right? Take care, Cadre Sphere. I love you. I think you're awesome. This has been. I've been here three weeks and it's been the most fabulous three weeks. And I'll see you next week for sure. But know, as always, that I'm cheering you on on the daily. Bye, everybody. Have a great.
