Post
joy is something many of you were never taught to access without a purpose, without a score, without a winner, without a way to prove yourself.
Once I understood that, something in my facilitation had to shift.
I started intentionally lightening the mood.
Adding moments of unseriousness.
Making room for laughter that didn’t have a direction or a lesson attached to it.
Because the more I listened, the more I realized:
you don’t just lack these experiences, many of you don’t even know how to recognize them when they show up.
And that realization is shaping how I plan to engage with and build PWO Community of men going forward.
I’m thinking constantly now about how to gather in ways that center “fun” as something to experience, not something to achieve.
Not a prize.
Not a goal.
Not a metric.
Just… something your body remembers how to feel.
I keep going back to childhood: spinning in circles with friends just to feel the dizziness, climbing trees just to see a little farther, playing in water because it was there and we were there and that was enough.
Somewhere along the way, y’all were told that joy had to be earned.
That play was selfish.
That pleasure required a justification.
That passion is only valid when it produces status, money, or power.
That is the myth of white supremacy at work.
Stealing your humanity while convincing you it’s a privilege.
So let this be your reminder as you continue the real, difficult, necessary work of building a consistent, demonstrated antiracist practice:
Joy. Play. Pleasure. Passion.
These are not extras.
They are not distractions.
They are not luxuries.
They are tools, critical, powerful tools, in your equity, justice, and liberation toolbox.
Tools that make you harder to manipulate.
Tools that make you more capable of connection.
Tools that return you to yourself.
Tools that help you build the kind of community you’ve been missing your entire lives.
And the kind of world we’re fighting for.
#MythOfWhiteSupremacy #MythOfWhiteMaleSupremacy #RedefiningMasculinity #LifeBeyondTheSupremacyMyth #BeyondMediocre #ProfitWithoutOppression #PWOCommunity #KimCrayton
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