First Newsletter!
Thrivers/Friends/Connections/Supporters…
This is my first collective thank you and update to all of you who have shown interest (or taken the plunge!) in Thrive. Despite the blind copy, it is my hope that it feels as personal to you as it does to me.
First, a BIG thank you to everyone for listening, advising, participating, and yes, critiquing my vision. Two years ago, when I committed to this path, I did so with the belief that I had more to offer outside of the traditional school system than in it. Back then, the statistics and my own boots-on-the-ground experience were aligned, and they still are today: many young people are feeling stuck, they talk about being on paths not their own, and they wake up without the excitement and direction that they want and deserve. After all those years alongside young people in classrooms, on tennis courts, along canoe routes and more, I knew this was the next thing to do. My instincts were right.
Close to 100 young professionals and students (ages 15-30) have either completed or are underway in the Structuring for Success experience, and tutoring, coaching and psychotherapy services are gaining traction. Personally, I am at coaching capacity and anticipate openings in February of 2024. I also have several dynamite colleagues who are at the ready. Please take a look at Thriveto.org and specifically, a video outlining Structuring for Success. Anything you feel we can do to support – whether through individual coaching or school/institutional programming - we’re ready to go to work for you.
On the personal side, 2023 was intense. The first half was magnificent. Several aspects of my life feel better than ever and connections with those around me feel deeper than I knew possible. Then, the opposite: my sister received a devastating diagnosis and less than three months later, she was gone. She left this life bravely, and she was proud to know that it was how she faced dying that was teaching me most about how to live. If death can be faced and defined as positively as my sister managed, then life can surely be reframed and experienced by us in ways that work better for us, too. Stephen Jenkinson writes in Die Wise, that “dying is active…it is not what happens to you. [It] is what you do.” Living, like dying, is what we do, not what happens to us. It is what and who we make time for, and how we frame and experience it all. Let’s connect and figure out how we can help more people increase awareness, do what works, and feel better.
A very happy holiday to you all, and thanks again for being alongside us at Thrive.
Warmest and best,
Luke
