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Hi all,
I hope you are staying well and finding time to rest. I hope that you have found ways to enjoy the outdoors in the cool of the early mornings or the evenings. And I hope that you are taking good care of yourselves.
While it’s still summer, and the heat isn’t likely to let up for another couple of months, my eldest is already back at school. She just started the first grade, and I got to attend her back-to-school night last week. Sitting in her tiny seat in the first row of her class, I listened as the teacher described how the class would have homework to complete weekly and how they would start receiving grades on their work. And I felt myself panic a bit as I considered what this meant. So far, going to school has been about fun. Making friends, learning, playing. But now, the stakes are higher, and I realized that my feelings weren’t wholly about what this transition meant for my daughter but about my experiences in grade school. I can trace my fear of failure to my parents’ responses to parent-teacher conferences and being disappointed by the feedback about my performance. It’s something that I have had to manage ever since.
This month’s blog article is about fear of failure, including how it forms and how to change our relationship with failure. If this is something that has ever plagued you, I hope that the article can offer some helpful tips.
If you need support with this topic or anything else, please do reach out. As always, we are here and are glad to help. Our email address is info@takeroottherapy, and you can reach us by phone or text at (323) 388-5578.
Warmly,
Saba Harouni Lurie (she/her/hers)
On The Blog
Why Am I Afraid to Fail?: How Our Fear of Failure Can Hinder Growth
When I began building my practice, I was excited. I was working a full-time job at a non-profit mental health center, tutoring and facilitating psychotherapy groups at an intensive outpatient program. My plate was already full, but I was eager to have my own practice so I could do the clinical work how I wanted to. As my practice grew, I came to a point where it was no longer sustainable to do everything at the same pace, with the same intensity. I met with a business coach, and she encouraged me to finally quit my full-time job to build my practice, and I panicked. Yes, this is what I wanted. But the fear overwhelmed me. I was worried that I wouldn’t make enough money to sustain myself. I wasn’t convinced I had what it took to pursue my own business full-time. And more than anything else, I was afraid. Afraid of failing…
How to Help
August is Black Business Month
Black owned businesses have long played an integral role in the quest to close the racial wealth gap within the Black community but as it stands, only 2.3% of all U.S. businesses are Black owned, even while the Black population nationwide sits at 13.6%. This disparity is not due to a lack of Black entrepreneurs but rather, it’s a result of generations of Black Americans being barred from accessing pathways to economic advancement such as business loans and investor funding. And the businesses that were able to get up and running were often the targets of racially based vandalism and attacks that left many Black Americans afraid to take on the financial and physical risk of starting their own business. For context, here is a brief history of the attack on Black Wall Street and the Tulsa Massacre, the devastation of which is still reverberating throughout the Black community over 100 years later.
While many Black owned businesses continue to struggle due to the same types of institutionalized racism that hindered the success of their predecessors, now they also have to survive in a marketplace that has become increasingly hostile to small businesses in recent years. Supporting small businesses in this economy has required the creation of an organized and dedicated movement to ‘shop small’ but these efforts have largely excluded Black businesses.
This Black Business month, take some time to support Black owned businesses in your local community or online. The Nile List and Official Black Wall Street are two great directories that can help you find Black owned businesses that cater to your needs. You can also help Black owned businesses by promoting them on social media and taking time to review their products and services. Supporting Black owned businesses is not just a way to divest from large corporations with horrible environmental and workers rights records, it is also an easy way to participate in social justice activism. Business ownership is one of the most direct paths to prosperity for many Americans and by making an effort to support specifically Black owned businesses you will help contribute to the creation of economic opportunities, generational wealth and access to resources in Black communities that have been deliberately underserved for generations.
Another way to do your part is by amplifying these causes. Simply talking about issues of mental health disparities and access to care with your friends and family or promoting organizations doing this type of restorative work on your social media are just two ways that you can help bring attention and support to this issue.
Community Events
Food Bank with The Boys and Girls Club of Los Angeles in Lincoln Heights
Come help fight food insecurity in your own backyard! The community of Lincoln Heights has a disproportionately high number of families with children living in poverty. There is also a large community of seniors with no support systems such as social security to depend on and who come weekly for assistance with food from our food bank.
The Club picks up food from LA Regional Food Bank, brings the food to the Club, and packs the food to distribute each Thursday. We work hard to bring a variety of items including fresh produce, meat/poultry/proteins, dried goods, and some canned items.
WHEN:
Thursday, September 1st
2:30 pm – 6:00 pm
WHERE:
Los Angeles Boys & Girls Club
2635 Pasadena Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90031
Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival
Each summer, Bard fanatics watch their favorite works come to life at the historic Old Zoo in Griffith Park. Independent Shakespeare Co. puts on a series of lively productions each week, inviting audiences to take a seat on the grass (read: bring a picnic blanket) and enjoy performances like this season’s headliners: Knight of the Burning Pestle (July 2–31) and Macbeth (Aug 6–Sept 4).
WHEN:
Various evenings starting at 7pm. Click here to register for a performance!
WHERE:
Old Zoo
Griffith Park Dr
Los Angeles
Summer Evening Strolls at the HuntingtonAs sunset creeps later and later into the evening, the Huntington is taking advantage of the extra daylight with this coveted after-hours series. Formerly open on select dates and just for members, Summer Evening Strolls is now open to the public, too, and will extend the San Marino garden’s hours until 8pm on Saturday and Sunday evenings in the summer, with a few holiday weekend Fridays thrown in, too. WHEN: Friday, Sept 2nd WHERE: Huntington Library, Art Museum & Botanical Gardens |
Featured Publications
How to Make (and Keep) Friends As An Adult, According to Experts
featuring Saba Harouni Lurie
