After I started speaking again—following two weeks on a bed of ice in a medically induced coma—I was told that some of my first words were in Spanish. For the eight weeks prior to my coma, I had been working at a mission organization outside of Ensenada, Mexico. Upon returning home to the Bay Area that August, I drove to Santa Barbara to visit my closest friends before beginning what would have been my final year of college. (My accident happened while driving north on the 101 after that trip. So of course, I didn’t start my last year of college then).

All this to say: the summer before my accident, I spoke a lot of Spanish. In fact, I was extremely conversational. I even think a part of me comes alive in Spanish that does not come out in English.

Reflecting on this now– 15 years later– I believe I’ve lost a part of myself by rarely speaking Spanish these days. And, I’ve also missed an opportunity to build bridges and connect with my neighbors, many of whom are scared and in survival mode now because of the presence of ICE in our city.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and one way I think I can honor my core self AND help bring about kindness in 2026 is by… sharing some of my psychoeducation content in Spanish too! I’ve already posted a resiliency tip from the Community Resiliency Model (CRM) in English and Spanish on my Instagram, and I’m giving myself permission to let this idea nest more and take flight in whatever direction the sky takes me. 🙂

The Community Resiliency Model is all about teaching communities how to increase well-being in their bodies in the midst of suffering and stress. (It’s not therapy, but it’s therapeutic– and I’m a certified CRM Teacher. I’ve led workshops on it, and I can teach you little snippets here, too!).

One of the resiliency questions this model asks is “what or who is helping you through right now”? Instead of denying (or on the other end of the continuum, dwelling) on all the ways in which things are bad or not right, what if we acknowledged this “not right-ness” AND then pivoted to “what is helping us through?”

As a gentle clarification, this is not invalidating the pain. It’s acknowledging it — and then, choosing to focus on “what else is true” so that we can build our resiliency and steadiness in the midst of all the “not right-ness”. Does that make sense?

I’m gonna post this to Instagram later, but here’s a sneak peak:

I’m holding the deep suffering and injustice that is occurring in our world right now. And, I’m also holding what else is true: an intention to try to honor myself and bring kindness in an accessible way.

How can you acknowledge your big feelings AND be steady enough to help welcome and usher in kindness?

Here’s to us courageously embracing love, generosity, connection, and kindness—to ourselves and to all. Especially now. Again and again and again.