The long game
Civic lessons, like life lessons, will always win
After a month and a half hiatus, I’m not even close to ready to talk about civics.
In unfortunate ways, the word “civics” has a dirty ring to it. I’m not in the mindset, or head space, to champion the original idea of parents re-learning civics so we can inspire civic-minded kids. At least not without a level of disingenuousness I don’t normally go for.
In the first 3-ish months of 2025, I’ve watched my readership grow exponentially, thanks to two loyal, longtime civic allies with thriving Substacks. With each notification, I feel at best conflicted; at worst, a fraud.
I don’t want to think about civics right now.
My canned speech is starting to fall flat, especially to my own ears:
When I think about “civics”, I feel fatigued and sad — NOT the energy I want to bring to a Substack based on the idea of “civic parenting”.
Recently, someone I’ve become close to as part of this wildly manic motherhood journey said something to me that was so profound, yet so simple.
Civics is a long game.
And if right now, I feel tired and demotivated because of the things we’re living, that’s the privilege of playing the long game.
It may shift in a month, or a year, or possibly years from now. I hope to bounce back sooner. But in the meantime, I’m just sad and tired — from a civics point of view. And also, there are other things happening in life that are joyful, happy and meaningful, and I want to focus on those things.
If you are an intentional subscriber of Civic EQ, I want to acknowledge how incredibly lucky I am to have piqued your interest. If you go away before I’m truly ready to reengage — that’s beyond fair. If you want to stick with me for the rocky ride, even better. For the foreseeable future, these posts will be sporadic. There will only be posts when I find something truly energizing or inspiring and feel like I’m cutting through the terrible noise. But as my mom village reminded me, civics is a long game (just like life) and we’ve got to roll with the punches. Right now, I feel civically punched in the nose. But I have faith that that is not going to be the longterm MO. I hope you do too.
xoxo
Sarah