Looking back over 2023
2023 has had its ups and downs. That's been reflected in what I've written about this year.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed writing. I like telling stories, bringing together a few different ideas and weaving them into something that sometimes helps me, and hopefully others, understand or appreciate things a bit better than we did before.
Writing here has felt more important than ever during 2023, as personally it’s been a bit of a topsy-turvy year. It’s well-recognised that writing stuff down can be a real help when there are things you need to process, or changes in direction that need a good bit of navigation.
Writing certainly works for me, and I hope some of what I write resonates with you too.
A few key themes during 2023
Looking back at my posts this year, there are some topics I keep coming back to.
In the summer I left the social enterprise I’d co-founded 12 years ago. When you put your heart and soul into your work, moving on can be tough, even if you know that for all sorts of reasons it’s the right thing to do. Writing about it certainly helped.
Moving on
You haven’t heard from me for best part of a couple of months. That’s largely because I haven’t had much space in my head for much else other than sorting things out for me leaving the organisation I helped to set up 13 years ago. We went into detail on the background to the situation on
How we talk with eachother about the climate crisis
This is something I think about a lot, and that’s reflected in what I’ve written about here.
It’s a topic that first came to mind during a January pilates class.
Challenging conversations
I laid myself down on the exercise mat and closed my eyes. I was early for the class — it’s a popular one and you need to get there handy to bagsy a good spot. It was nice just to have a few minutes, as others arrived, set themselves up and chatted about this and that.
And it’s a theme I kept coming back to, including in a post where I suggested we need to start conversations by exploring with people what it is that they love.
What I Talk About When I Talk About Climate Change
One of the things I enjoy most in life is running. Or more specifically, running in races. Races help me tap into a part of my personality that doesn’t come to the fore that often. My competitive streak. It might well be the case that most of my working life has had more to do with co-…
And as I mentioned right at the top, this is where my lifelong interest in storytelling comes in. The more I reflect on the climate crisis, the more I’m convinced that we need better ways to engage people, so together we can explore what we can do.
Sharing stories can be one good place to start.
Positive stories of people taking action
This is another theme I’ve kept returning to. In this post from July, I explored the theme of people power - both in relation to community energy, and the community-led housing work that I’ve been part of.
The case for People Powered Power
There’s a good opinion piece in today’s Guardian from Rebecca Willis, professor of energy and climate governance at Lancaster University, exploring proposals for an offshore windfarm off the Cumbrian coast, which could potentially be part-owned by local people.
And I explored similar themes here, reflecting on the power of collective community action.
Community work is climate work
Whenever I hear the word community, I immediately think of Lee, a volunteer at The Florrie in Liverpool - an organisation that’s been at the heart of its community in Liverpool 8 for over 130 years. As his friend and colleague at the Florrie, Timo says in this beautiful short film:
Seeking out inspiration
As I outlined above, it’s been a challenging year work-wise. I left an organisation I’d set up, and I then took some time over the summer to reflect on what to do next.
Remembering what it is we're fighting for
I mentioned last week that I recently left the social enterprise I set up in 2010. I’m taking a bit of time to work out what to do next. And getting outdoors as much as I can. For walks, for finally getting on top of things in the garden after all these years.
What happens now
As I mentioned in a post in November, I recently started a part-time role as a business coach, supporting social entrepreneurs across West Yorkshire.
New job - new clothes. But does new need to mean new?
I’m pleased to say I started a new job last week, supporting social entrepreneurs across West Yorkshire. More on that soon. It’s great to be back working. You may remember that in the summer I left the social enterprise that I co-founded 12 years ago.
It’s good to be back helping people to do good stuff. And with the rest of my time, I want to continue to explore how best to use my skills in ways that are helpful to people.
And, having read Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman over the Christmas holidays, I’ve decided to worry a bit less about what happens next, and focus a bit more on what happens now. Doing what I can where I am, and seeing where that takes me. But that’s something to talk about more in a future post….