Finding Good When It Feels Hard To Survive

Good morning, Cadre. Happy Saturday. It is Shannon. It is 10:34am Central Standard Time. I am here in St. Paul, Minnesota. This morning, I kind of went rogue and decided to go live after my workout this morning because I got a little, like, jacked with, you know, good emotions after my workout. So welcome to my live stream today. It is entitled. What is it entitled today? I don't know what the actual, actual title is, but it is something about finding light in darkness. And it's very timely for those of us who live here in Minnesota because we're going through some weird stuff right now.

And so I know we have a lot of people who are not from Minnesota, and so this is truly a universal message. But why this is important to me is for anyone who's living through anything heavy as we are here today in our own community, it can feel. It can feel like a lot. And it does feel like a lot. And so I just wanted to come on today and talk about how to deal with that. So I'm a person. If you don't know me, it's nice to meet you. I'm Shannon. I'm part of the Cadre team. And I live with anxiety, cptsd, and then I'm a caregiver for my son with autism.

So I, like, live in the world with a lot of feelings. I'm feeling a lot of things always. I am always, like, taking in people's emotions. And so as a result, if things are happening around me that are heavy, I, like, internalize it. And so today I want to talk about the word community. And it's one of Cadre's pillars. We build community. But I also want to deconstruct it a little bit because I think words really matter. And when I hear the word community at times, that can feel like a thing you have to do to be a part of it, right?

That can be like, oh, God, if I'm part of a community, I have to put on a certain shirt or I have to bring a casserole, or what does it mean for me to be part of a community? Hello, Ms. Shannon. Good morning, Davis. Good morning, junk food junkie. Hello, all of you. In times that are dark and hard, we absolutely need community. But community might feel like a hard thing to find or like a big thing to connect with. And especially if you might be an introvert, if you might be someone living in a rural area, if you might be someone who doesn't have people around you, not everybody.

A lot of people are alone in the world. A lot of people don't have networks of friends and families. A lot of people might be in a room alone right now. And so they don't have these, you know, big systems to connect to. And one where Michael and Jim and I could watch that scene over and over and over. And that makes me feel less alone. And I think I just want you to hear, like, if you're ever in a moment of loneliness, if you're ever in a moment of, like, I'm actually alone in this world, you're not.

So all the darkness that's happening right now, if you're feeling. I'm feeling it in my community. However that manifests for you, I just want you to remember that this entire world is just people who are the same. We're all born babies. We all need the same things. We need food. We need rest. We want to feel happy. You know, we just want the basic same things, no matter who we are. And that's just the truth. And I think sometimes we forget that. So that's it. I mean, honestly, I just want you to know, like, make eye contact with someone, listen to somebody, breathe.

Look at a kid, if that makes you smile. Community doesn't have to be casseroles. If you don't like casseroles. So that's it, guys. Just Happy Saturday. You're part of this community. You're here. This is. If this is the light you need today, have it be the light. But wherever you are, if you're sitting in a room by yourself and you're feeling like you're not part of a community, you're part of this community. And so that's it, guys. I just wanted to say that Happy Saturday, have a great day, and I hope you find a little light today.

All right, we will see you here again soon in the Cadre sphere. Have a great day. Bye, guys. Sam,