The first thing that came to our minds to give up was social media. (There were varying levels of success on achieving this.)

But - connection really matters.

Kathryn talked about Improbable exploring ‘do the one thing’. Setting time-frames for what this looks like for 10 years / 2 years / a week / etc. A way of linking different strands of activity and gaining a sense of larger purpose.

Mary talked about community and audience - that’s what makes the work valuable.

Paul talked about seeing lots of shows in Edinburgh by young people about mental health. Using theatre to explore what matters. (But fewer vampire musicals this year.)

Alan said the thing I needed to hear:

To not forget that we’ve just come out of the pandemic. 2 years of upheaval, fear, loss, uncertainty, atrophy, of losing connection. To recognise the enormity of what we’ve been through. To take space to take stock. To take care of ourselves while we do this. We’re not going to go at full speed for a while. And that’s ok. But we have to learn to be comfortable with not knowing.

Paul talked about giving up worrying about his students writing without full stops. That the understanding was what matters. That we have to give up the old ways and imagine the new.

Alice talked about feeling we are in a ‘chrysalis’ moment. We can’t quite see the new. A time of re-clarifying and rebirth.

This is the hard bit.

We can’t go back to how it was.

But we can look at what’s local to us, convene spaces for our communities, offer a good night out, help people reconnect.