Let's Get Honest About Our True Capacity

And find sanity in the midst of this current cultural moment beyond "take a break from social media"

“Do not overload the foundation, do not carry the building higher than the base permits, or build at all before the base is secure: otherwise the whole structure is likely to collapse.”

—A.G. Sertillanges, O.P., The Intellectual Life

Refusing to "carry the building higher than the base permits" is a spiritual practice of responsibility. Increasing our capacity is a spiritual practice of love.

Hi Soul Minimalist,

Lately every time I sit down to write here I’m tempted to make a list of all the reasons why it feels impossible to write. And I know other writers feel the same way.

As a writer, my compulsion is compassion and connection: Writing for a reader with any amount of regularity feels particularly difficult these days. There is much to grieve, to comment on, to process through, to understand. And it is too much.

But as a reader, I’m paying attention to a different compulsion, one that quietly whispers from the other side of the screen or the page to the writers I admire: Please do it anyway. Find a way. Cut through the noise. I need to read your good work in whatever area you feel most called: social justice, home design, parenting teenagers, life-hacks, faithful presence. I need to see your celebration, to bear witness to our collective grief, to laugh and to weep. I need to watch you be you to remind me how to be me.

As a writer, I feel the tension and the hesitation. As a reader, I feel the need to hear from voices I respect. Both feel urgent in their own way.

On behalf of the reader, I speak as a writer to other writers today: We need to find a path of sanity in the midst of this cultural moment beyond “take a break from social media,” especially because the output and method of much of our work is on the actual Internet (even if it’s not on social media).

If we’re in this for the long-haul (are we?) then we need to practice minimalism on the soul level. But how?

First: If I want to build higher — have broader influence, speak to matters that are currently beyond me, continue to do go the distance — then I have to increase my base.¹

My base, or my foundation, is the place from which all my work comes. It’s the center, the spirit of things, the core from whence the headwaters flow. When the base is hollow, shallow, or fatigued, it cannot hold the structure. When leaders ignore this, what follows is heartache at best, disaster at worst. We need healthy, self-energized leaders, thinkers, writers, and makers. This energy will not emerge on its own from nothing.

When I feel as though the moment requires something that is beyond my own capacity, I’m learning to pay attention to my limitations, to not push myself to speak up or call out unless I have the current foundational support to sustain the potential impact. This is not an excuse to stay silent, it is a call to resist intellectual laziness and to set my face like a flint in the direction of doing whatever it takes to continue to develop my own capacity.

And friends, this is slow work.

Here is what that has looked like for me and a few concrete ways I’m working hard to honor my own limitations and cultivate my own capacity.

Note for the reader: We get to make choices about who we will listen to, support, champion, learn from, and be entertained by. You do it, I do it, we all do it all the time. When content is free, it’s easier to pay casual attention. But this can also inadverntatly add to our decision fatigue. Part of being a soul minimalist includes being a digital minimalist, which may mean you only pay to subscribe to very few (if any) newsletters. I’m honored if, for now, mine is among them!

If you want free content from me, I have it everywhere. If you want access to this content but cannot currently swing the monthly $5 fee, we offer scholarships to literally everyone who asks. Details in the About page.