Story
The Skyworm story, shared by the original peoples throughout the Great Lakes, is a constant star in the constellation of teachings we call the Original Instructions. These are not “instructions” like commandments, though, or rules; rather, they are like a compass: they provide an orientation but not a map. The work of living is creating that map for yourself.
-Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass
Beginnings
I decided to go back to school to in part because I wanted to have a second chance to right my college wrongs. I would spend less time letting my social anxiety rule my decisions and more time focusing on learning.
When I started school, I was disappointed that classes felt prescriptive and secondary to the internship search, networking, and jam-packed social calendar. I often felt like I was spending my time in pursuit of the next thing: the next stepping stone, the next job, the next event. The next thing, the next thing, the next thing...
I finished my first semester proud of myself that I was beginning to understand balance sheets and income statements, yet I was exhausted by always thinking of what came next.
I was craving something that oriented my priorities, time, and personal values in a less results-driven way.
Pandemic
Winter break came and went, and then the next semester started. The pace of school was still relentless. Despite craving an orientation that was less output-driving, I didn't feel like I had time to question why my schedule was so packed. My time demanded productivity. Then suddenly, everything shut down in March of 2020.
As people processed, and still process, the realities of living in a global pandemic, outdoor spaces became a refuge. I saw so many people turning to nature for grounding and comfort during the initial panic and uncertainties of COVID.
This moment reaffirmed for me that turning towards nature could be the orientation I was looking for. I was inspired by how adrienne marie brown grounded herself in nature in her book Emergent Strategy and set off to discover if I and businesses could do the same.
Research
Many companies stopped recruiting for summer interns during the early months of the pandemic in favor of looking inward and reorienting, and as summer approached, I took this moment to do the same. Instead of pursuing a traditional summer internship, I decided to spend time with this hypothesis, that businesses and working professionals could look to nature for a more holistic perspective at work, instead.
I wanted to know if workplaces could be regenerative rather than extractive, and wanted to to know if they could model themselves off of natural ecosystems, regenerating and sharing their resources. Is it possible to have a regenerative workplace?
With the guidance of my advisors, I set out to develop a framework for companies to orient themselves in a more people-centered way. Ultimately, I came away with a way to orient myself. I've begun to create a map for myself and hope that it's a map you can use too.