January is about resets.
But with Covid dominating 2020, we may be feeling fatigued despite the arrival of a new year. The stresses of this pandemic have yet to end. How to plan when we don’t know what’s ahead? It’s understandable if we don’t have the energy to make resolutions, let alone see them through.
Conversely, we may also feel that the pandemic has presented us, even if painfully, with a chance for reflection. We harvested lessons on what’s important. With priorities crystallized, we are motivated to make much-needed, meaningful changes in 2021.
How do you feel about the New Year, friend?
Is there something that you resolve to be more intentional about?
Were there habits formed in 2020 that you’re bringing to 2021 to protect your health, sanity, and your loved ones?
Or is there something from Life B.C. (Before Covid) that you want to reclaim?
At Good Food, 2021 started with our own New Year’s resolutions of sorts with a team planning activity. To plan is a work of hope, in the same way that farming or planting a garden rests on believing in the promise of what’s possible.
It was a long and tiring first Monday of the year. We brought with us lessons, both successes and failures, from the previous year. 2021 is the year we turn 10 years old, and the work we have set out for ourselves and the changes we hope to accomplish affirm the values that helped us last year. We’d like to share them with you.
Joy
The work of changing the world with food is hard—but it is made lighter by joy. At Good Food when the going gets tough, the laughter gets louder. In these toxic times, prayer, friendship, tenderness, and cheerful curiosity keep us strong.
Love for self and others
One cannot give what one does not have. Our ability to commit to our mission is sustained by spaces for self-care and solitude, and a deep gratitude for others who share this journey of transformation with us.
Community and connection
We need other people. Our work with farmers taught us the value of diversity, and we consider it the foundation of a strong community. We recognize our interdependence, and approach our connections with each other, our community, and life on this planet with care and compassion.
Grit in the service of justice
Food is political. We’ve been told the path we’ve chosen is not the easiest one, but we’re committed to it. Working with smallholder farmers, among the most impoverished in the country, one cannot take the work of justice out of the picture, and we are grateful for the opportunity. It is deeply fulfilling.
Food
There was some debate around this. Food per se is not a value. But it is at the heart of our values. We experience joy and community as we eat together and see our subscribers rejoicing over the farm shares. With each harvest from our farmers we understand the depths of our connection and the need for justice. Oh, and we love our food. A LOT.
As the coming year continues to be unpredictable, prospects remain unclear for a lot of us. Whether or not we can muster some resolutions or plan ahead, may we realize that the values we uphold can help light our way forward.
Here’s to a kinder new year.
Your friends at Good Food,
Cara, Joyce, Gio, Mabi, Char, Ernest, Kuya Luis, Ate Celia, Denise, and Laila (we’re growing!)
goodfoodcommunity.wordpress.com 