Tag: community

creativity

In the pause: This is everyone’s job

Christa Avampato

“Your job is not to judge. Your job is not to figure out if someone deserves something. Your job is to lift the fallen, to restore the broken, and to heal the hurting.” ~Joel Osteen

I never thought I’d be quoting Joel Osteen in a post, but this quote of his resonates with me. There’s a lot of talk flying around in the media, our political systems, and around kitchen tables about what people deserve. I’ll admit that “deserve” is a word that makes me wince. I don’t even like to say it because I can’t stand the feel of it or its connotation. It causes a lot of finger-pointing, blame, shame, and anger, and it’s not far removed from the idea of greed, another word that makes my stomach turn.

I’d like us to suspend with the idea of who deserves what altogether. We’re all born just trying to get by—breathing, eating, sleeping, and trying like hell to make sense of the great world that whirls around us. We all start this way, and then life happens, scattering our influences, values, and beliefs to the wind to be carried in a countless number of directions. And some of those directions break us down. We end up lost, hurting, and disillusioned. Some of us make it through to the other side of that heartache, and some don’t. Many need help, myself included.

I have been incredibly fortunate that most of the time when I needed support, I found it in my teachers, my friends, my writing, and my therapist. Sometimes, that help came from a stranger who didn’t owe me anything and who didn’t receive anything in return except my gratitude. Miraculously, I was also born with boatloads of grit, a hefty dose of determination, and a never-say-die attitude. For better or worse, I am stubborn as hell and my headstrong nature has been my savior. A lot of people aren’t as lucky. When they are most in need, there isn’t anyone to help. They are alone. And I know that feeling, too. It’s terrifying. It makes you desperate. It causes you to think and do things that would never cross your mind on an average day. Any one of us could become that person with just a simple turn of bad luck.

It’s on those days that we most need help, and for too many people, that help doesn’t arrive. So what if we did this? What if each of us, once a week, once a month, hell once a year, saw someone who really needed help. Someone fallen, broken, or hurting. And we offered support. What if we all took it on as a small side job to lend a hand without reason, without any kind of repayment, but just because a total stranger needed us. Don’t think about how the person ended up in their current situation. Don’t judge or make a call about what they deserve. Just make it your job in that one moment, to offer support in some way with whatever you have. How would the world change if each of us did that? How would we change as people if we began to see everyone not as “other” but as one of us, as someone we could have been if our luck had been just slightly different?

creativity

In the pause: Maybe a stressful situation is leading you to where you need to go

Christa Avampato

I’m managing through Phineas’s adjustment to our new apartment. While it’s stressful at the moment thanks to the worst neighbor we’ve ever had, last night as I drifted off to sleep I started to wonder what could be the very positive flip side to this story.

Maybe Phin and I are meant to rescue a second pup who needs a home and will be Phin’s BFF for the rest of his life. Maybe this situation is prompting me to step up my job search even more so that I can *finally* stop renting and buy my very first home. Maybe this journey to help Phin through his anxiety is leading me to someone I’m supposed to meet who will have a positive impact on my life. Or maybe it’s just meant to give me more compassion, empathy, and concern for those who are also going through stressful times.

I’m not sure if any of those narratives are true, but their possibility is helping me rest a little easier and encouraging me to keep moving forward.

creativity

In the pause: Who I am and what I’m looking for in my job search

Christa Avampato

A recruiter and career coach suggested that I put together a snapshot of who I am and what I’m looking for in my job search. It was a great exercise that helped me focus and communicate my search. Know someone I should talk to? Connect to me on LinkedIn. 

“I use business and storytelling skills to build a better world. After completing my undergradate studies at Penn, I managed Broadway shows and national theater tours. Then after getting my MBA at Darden, I spent 10 years in a variety of product and program leadership roles at for-profit companies, nonprofits, and startups while also building my writing portfolio as a freelance journalist at publications like The Washington Post.

A proud New Yorker, I want to bundle all of my business and writing experience to work for an organization creating social impact in education, access to the arts, and / or systems that serve as the bedrock of New York City.”

 

creativity

In the pause: Honor your mother on Mother’s Day with a gift to the Capital Area Food Bank

Christa Avampato

This Mother’s Day, honor an amazing mom, or someone who is like a mom to you, by giving the gift of food and hope to mothers who are working hard to feed their kids with the help of the Capital Area Food Bank. It’s one of my favorite charities because they support over 700,000 D.C. area residents every year who battle food insecurity. They’ve set up a special fundraising effort for us to honor mothers by helping mothers and families who are less fortunate: https://www.capitalareafoodbank.org/mothers-day/.

I honored my mom with a donation to CAFB this year and I hope you’ll join me! And if you need a first-hand account of all of the incredible work CAFB does, read this story by CAFB team member Christel Hair:

“IN HONOR OF MY STRONG SINGLE MOM

Everything is a struggle when you’re a single mom with kids. I know this first hand.

After losing my father, my mom was a single woman in the 70s with two girls to raise. It wasn’t always easy, but she was smart, hard-working, and tough. Sometimes we ate whatever was on hand – Hamburger Helper, toast, applesauce, a vegetable. But she served up everything with love, and we felt comfortable and safe.

I followed her example when, years later, my husband passed away and I was raising two little boys on my own. I was fortunate to have a job and the support of my family, but there were still times when getting dinner on the table after a long day at work was a challenge.

During my time at the food bank, I’ve met so many women who are working and raising children like I was, but doing it without enough food. And as hard as it was for me, I know it can be much harder.

This Mother’s Day, honor an amazing mom – or someone like a mom – in your own life by giving the gift of food and hope to mothers who are working hard to feed their kids. Moms make sacrifices all the time. With your help, food doesn’t have to be one of them.

And to my own mom: thank you for showing me how to lead and love my family with strength and pride.”

creativity

In the pause: Philly’s Rooster Soup Co. is doing everything right in the food world

Christa Avampato
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Check out Rooster Soup Co at http://www.roostersoupcompany.com/

I have to give a big shout out to Philly’s Rooster Soup Co. Recognized today as one of the best restaurants in the U.S. by Food & Wine Magazine, this tasty place produces zero waste and donates 100% of its profits to charity to help vulnerable Philadelphians live a better life. This is the kind of business we need to celebrate – good product and service, good for the planet, and good for the community. This is a triple bottom line we can all believe in and support.

creativity

In the pause: Sign up to get updates about my novel, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters

Christa Avampato

I’m so thrilled that my novel, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters, will be published this Fall by Thumbkin Prints, a new children’s and young adult imprint of Possibilities Publishing Company. I’ve recently updated the name of the Facebook Page for the book and I’d love for you to sign up for giveaways, special offers, and updates. Just go to https://www.facebook.com/AuthorChrista/ and click the blue “Sign up” button on the right side of the page. I can’t wait to share the progress on the book and Emerson Page’s story with you. Cheers to dreams fulfilled!

creativity

In the pause: Go where life is humming and time is flying

Christa Avampato

Ever been at work and watched the clock wind down? Every. Single. Minute. Ever felt like life is croaking rather than humming? Me, too. And here’s the remedy: get out. Get way out. Of your situation. Of your comfort zone. Of your own way. This past week has been one of the very best that I’ve had in a long time, and here’s why: I am living. Really living. Growing. Exploring. Writing. Getting it done. The really important work of connecting to others and to my own spirit. I am living out loud. Now my time is flying. Now my life is humming. I’m dancing, singing, and glowing inside and out, and will continue to do so.

creativity

In the pause: Lift the weight of caring by doing

Christa Avampato

“Lift the weight of caring by doing.” ~State Farm Insurance

State Farm Insurance is running an initiative called NeighborhoodOfGood.com. It depicts a man who is watching his neighbors deal with homelessness, hunger, and disease. He feels burdened by these insights and then stumbles across a neighborhood center that offers mentoring to young people where he can volunteer.

I know many of you are struggling with the massive needs in the world right now. There is no shortage of them—hunger, health, homelessness, inequity, racism, poverty, and the list goes on and on. Don’t feel paralyzed by the enormity of the task. Get out there and do something for a cause you care about. State Farm’s site NeighborhoodOfGood.com can help you find a great opportunity to put your caring to work!

creativity

In the pause: We’re all hanging on

Christa Avampato

One of my elderly neighbors: “How you doing, young lady?”
Me: “I’m doing well. How are you?”
Neighbor (laughing): “Hangin’ on, baby. Hangin’ on. You know what I mean?”
Me: “Yes. Yes, I do.”

Lately I’ve felt like we’re all hanging on through the insanity that is this world today. And while that might sound dire, I think it’s actually beautiful in its own way. Over the past few months, I’ve had so many honest and passionate conversations with friends and strangers alike. For better or for worse, the state of our country has opened us up to speak our minds and to hear from others, too. We’re figuring out what really matters. We’re informed. We’re involved. And we’re staying that way. Hang on, friends, to each other and to what matters to you. This will all be worth it.

 

 

creativity

In the pause: Be beautiful you

Christa Avampato

“She woke up every morning with the option of being anyone she wished. How beautiful it was that she always chose herself.” ~Tyler Kent White

There is something so beautiful about people who choose authenticity, who are exactly who they are in every setting, with every person, every time. It feels good to be with these people. They make us want to live out loud.

As you go through life, I hope you find these people, hold them close, and let yourself follow their example. Be who you are. Life is too short and too precious to waste your time trying to be anyone else. And the world needs you, exactly as you are, right now. Surround yourself with people and in settings that appreciate everything that you are and everything that you have to offer. Don’t settle for anything less.