IRL RESEARCH LAB

Our journey from grief to action - there is no utopia, there is only us

You know how when you read books as a kid, about princesses or wizards or superheroes, so many of those books had a premise of an unloved child transformed by the unveiling of their uniqueness? A poor, sad girl turns out to be a princess, a weird nerdy boy turns out to have magical wizard powers, a strange child sings songs that conjure the almighty.

As we get older, it turns out….while we’re all unique, we’re not as special as we would have preferred to be, in fact we’re just normal people, like everyone else! But the flip-side is also a gift. Those special powers don’t need to be special; we can access the resilience, kindness, love, and forthrightness from within and give that to others.

This talk is about moving into the unknown, specifically regarding quarantine. While a lot has changed since I gave it at the end of May, I still think the premise holds true: you have what it takes.

I’ve spent years reading about utopias, about the hope that a new technology, a new political movement, a new society will radically transform everything. I used to believe in saviors, but now I believe there’s only us.

Hope you enjoy.