A view from Pont Neuf from my favorite city in the whole world.
Dear friends,
I’m writing to you from Paris, the place I called home for almost 8 years. It’s hard to believe I lived here longer than any city other than the one I grew up in (Sacramento, where I lived from 10-18 years old). It is not lost on me that Paris wasn’t supposed to be my life – nowhere in my personal history of growing up in a modest immigrant family would hint that a life in Paris would be in my future, but nevertheless, here I am.
I am here because I dared.
I dared to imagine a life outside the confines of my perceived limitations, and dared to design an unconventional, tri-continental life that aligns with the woman I am becoming. I dared to pursue the highest version of who I could be, and imagined myself achieving big (and very specific) goals that terrified me as much as it inspired me.
Admiring the sky as the sun bows out for its grand finale in Jardin Tuilleries.
Paris will always be special because it is the place that was supposed to be the most impossible, and yet, it was also the place that showed me the vast expanse of my own power to create and manifest my wildest dreams. Sidenote: Paris isn’t all glamour, and while this place is gorgeous, it broke me down in countless ways with all the GRIT I had to endure, but that’s for another story. ;)
Instead, I am inspired to talk about the tangible power of imagination, and how wielding it can transform both our personal worlds, as well as the world around us. Because what I’ve noticed is that sometimes, we don’t even allow ourselves the space to dream or imagine because we don’t believe we are deserving or worthy. We think we can’t do something because of our circumstances or our backgrounds, or, our own self-doubt and limiting beliefs.
But what I learned about my Paris journey is this: instead of asking, “why me?” ‘Ask, ‘why NOT me’? Don’t count yourself out of opportunities because they seem ‘out of reach’. The only way to ensure that you count yourself out is by not trying at all. So I implore you to dare to be the barrier breaker. You never know how life will meet you halfway and lead you to something greater than your wildest imaginations. Because guess what? We don’t always need to know the HOW, all we need to know is the WHAT, and most importantly the WHY.
This thought process is also relevant when we’re attempting to lead with impact and contribute to the greater world around us. In fact, radical imagination is known to be the engine for social movements. “Radical imagination feeds the creation of a just and equitable society. Social change movements use a radical imagination to envision a future free of oppression…” [Source: Everyday Activist Network]
Me streaming in from my old campus at the American University of Paris and into the classroom at Avenues The World School in NYC: bridging education from one international school to another.
This is why, when delivering the keynote address at Avenues The World School earlier this week as they kicked off their climate leadership program, I stressed the idea of approaching climate leadership with joy and imagination to combat the pervasive eco-anxiety that Gen-Z youth are struggling with. Eco-Anxiety is defined as: “chronic fear and extreme worry about current and future harm to the environment caused by human activity and climate change”.
While preparing for this keynote presentation, I learned a sobering fact: according to a 2022 poll conducted by the Blue Shield of California, “75% of Gen Z youth in the USA report having experienced a mental health problem like anxiety, depression, or excessive stress as a result of reading, seeing, or hearing news about climate change.”
I don’t deny that climate change is indeed a very real cause for fear and grave concern (especially today in New York City, where worsening air quality from Canadian wildfires is causing terrifying disruption). But I also worry that we are not equipping ourselves or our youth with the right mindset to go into this work with the inspired action that it deserves.
So instead, whether we are thinking about transforming our personal lives, or preparing to go out into the world to create impact, I invite us all to adopt the creative spirit of artists and actively choose to see the ‘ugly’ and decide to alchemize it into beauty.
To be clear, there is a difference between healthy optimism and toxic positivity. Toxic positivity pretends that the bad stuff doesn’t exist, and covers it with fake happiness. But healthy optimism acknowledges that the bad is there, but instead of merely accepting it, it decides that no matter what, it will do its very best to transform the bad into better.
Because in a world that profits from our pain, choosing joy is an act of resistance. Joy fuels creative imagination. Imagination fuels innovation.
And by each of us choosing to be intentional about cultivating and spreading our joy and our ability to imagine something better, we can create healthy inner worlds that will allow us to be better leaders in the outer world.
As I sign off, I want to share this quote by writer Rebecca Solni who shares:
“What if climate change meant not doom, but abundance? To respond to the climate crisis — a disaster on a more immense scale than anything our species has faced — we can and must summon what people facing disasters have: a sense of meaning, of deep connection and generosity, of being truly alive in the face of uncertainty. Of joy. This is the kind of abundance we need to meet the climate crisis, to make many, or even most, lives better. It is the opposite of moral injury; it is moral beauty. A thing we needn’t acquire, because we already have it in us."
With love from Paris,
Ruby