World Ocean Day was truly beautiful. We gathered, created, celebrated, cleaned, and connected. We made a super sweet whale mural together. Mariana made this custom lotería game that Mariana made and seriously…it was unreal, SO cool. We had 32 raffle gifts donated, delicious pizza, music, and a special group that made the whole vision come alive.

And I still drove away crying.

This work matters deeply to me. Which means the burnout when it hits…its hits HARD. There’s this strange tension I keep coming back to where something can be deeply meaningful and still leave you feeling completely worn out. Where I know that numbers don’t define impact, that unseen transformation is often the most important kind… and still, I find myself measuring things I told myself a million times I wouldn’t.

We didn’t raise as much as we hoped. And I found myself mad, not just about that, but about the fact that I was even upset. Because I know better AND I’m still learning, still growing, still transforming, and sometimes that’s really exhausting.

The truth is, even when I write reflections about purpose and change and hope, and believe them with all my heart, there are pieces of me that don’t always believe it in the moment. And I want to say: that’s okay too. Maybe that’s part of the point. We are all in process and our impact doesn’t stop just because we feel uncertain for a little while.

I think part of what makes this time so hard isn’t just the state of the world “out there,” it’s the pressure we put on ourselves to respond to it in the perfect way. With the perfect idea, the perfect project, the perfect amount of funding or followers or momentum. Transformation just doesn’t always look like that.

This work is important even when it’s hard and I’m so grateful I get to be a part of it.

We’re not done. My brain is just slowing down enough to remember what matters. Thank you for being part of this story. Thank you for your gifts, seen and unseen. They are making more of a difference than we’ll ever fully know.

As we step into July, I’m feeling especially grateful for the way community continues to shape and support what is being buitl.

This weekend we’ll have a beach cleanup in a brand-new spot: the wetlands. Our theme is connecting with nature, and we’re collaborating with a group of incredible women who host beautiful workshops that center around creativity and the natural world. I’m so looking forward to what might unfold there.

Cowork is still going strong every Wednesday…always a sweet rhythm in the week.

I think if there’s one thread that ties all this together, it’s that there is always an invitation to slow down, pay attention, and find ourselves more deeply connected. I can’t say that it’s always easy to say “yes” to the invitation but I do think it’s always worth it.

With love and tired hope,
Cas