The art of surrendering

Before I leave for two years of service in Kenya, I want to write something I can return to. Something that reminds me who I was before the leaving and who I am becoming because of it.

I’m calling it The Art of Surrounding.

To surround yourself is an art. It’s about what you choose to stand near, what you allow to shape you, what you soften toward. It’s about the moments you don’t rush past.

Honoring the Slow

We don’t talk enough about slowing down as a radical act. Honoring moments to pause  to sit on a curb at sunset, to listen instead of prepare your next sentence, to notice how wind feels on your face  is a form of resistance. The world tells us to hurry, to optimize, to produce. But slowing down teaches you how to witness.

I want to remember that service is not just about doing. It’s about being present. It’s about letting a place rearrange you gently instead of trying to conquer it with your expectations.

The Beauty of a New Language

There is something humbling about picking up a new language. Every mispronounced word reminds you that you are a beginner. Every small breakthrough feels like a door cracking open.

Language forces you to listen deeply. It teaches patience. It teaches that communication is more than vocabulary  it’s tone, body language, eye contact, laughter when you get it wrong. Learning a new language stretches you beyond ego. It invites you into vulnerability. It reminds you that understanding is built slowly, word by word.

And maybe that’s true for life too.

Setting the Intention to Be Friendly

Friendliness is underrated. I don’t mean surface-level politeness  I mean warmth. Choosing to assume goodness. Making space for someone else’s story. Smiling first. Asking questions.If I could pack one thing with me, it would be the intention to be open.

To be teachable. To let people surprise me.

Friendliness builds bridges where difference could easily build walls.

Being From Oakland

Being from Oakland means carrying layers. It means knowing resilience. It means understanding contradiction  beauty and struggle side by side. It means knowing what it feels like to love a place that the world misunderstands.

Oakland taught me how to move through systems that don’t always serve us. It taught me community care. It taught me that justice isn’t theoretical it’s personal. When I think about explaining where I’m from, I think about explaining pride, culture, music, protest, and survival all in one breath.

I carry Oakland with me. It shaped my awareness of inequality. It sharpened my eye for who is protected and who is policed. It gave me a sensitivity to injustice that I cannot turn off  and don’t want to.

Justice Across Borders

From Gaza to immigration detention centers, from disappearing wildlife to poisoned water in overlooked neighborhoods  the world is heavy with unresolved harm.It can feel overwhelming to hold all of it.

But surrounding yourself with awareness is different from drowning in it. Awareness keeps your heart soft. It reminds you that service is not about saviorism; it’s about solidarity. It’s about recognizing that our struggles are connected. That environmental justice, human rights, and wildlife protection are not separate fights  they are threads of the same tapestry.

Justice is not abstract. It lives in daily choices. It lives in who we listen to, what we protect, what we refuse to normalize.

Escaping What You Know

There is courage in leaving home. Not because home is bad  but because perspective is powerful. Escaping what you know, even temporarily, reveals your blind spots. It shows you how culture shapes assumptions. It teaches you that there are a thousand ways to live a life.

Global perspective doesn’t erase where you’re from; it deepens it. It makes you more compassionate. It makes you more curious. It makes you less certain  and that’s a gift.

Sometimes you have to step outside of your familiar landscape to understand it fully.

Kindness and the Planet

Staying connected to the planet is one way of finding a home within yourself. The earth does not rush. Trees don’t compete to grow overnight. Rivers don’t apologize for their direction.

Kindness is ecological. The way we treat each other mirrors how we treat the land. Disconnection from the planet often reflects disconnection from ourselves.

If I can remain kind  to people, to animals, to the soil, to my own evolving self  then I will never be fully lost.

Home is not only a place. It is a practice. It is the act of surrounding yourself with intention, awareness, and care.

Two years from now, I want to read this and ask:

Did you slow down?

Did you listen more than you spoke?

Did you stay soft in a hard world?

Did you remember Oakland?

Did you protect your connection to the earth?

And most importantly

Did you let the world change you?

Because the art of surrounding is really the art of becoming.