We live in a world that prizes self-reliance.
When we talk about being “self-reliant,” we often mean independently resourced, able to solve our own problems, carry our own weight, and support ourselves without needing too much from others.
And the kinds of resourcing that get the most praise and visibility in our culture tend to fall into just two categories: our minds and finances.
We’re taught to think our way through challenges. To solve everything with logic, planning, or mindset. If we can just reframe it, get more input and learning, or push through, we’ll find our way.
And when it comes to money, our culture prioritizes financial resources as the only resource we can draw from. Because in modern life, money is how we pay our rent, buy our groceries, pay our cell phone bill. Money becomes the gatekeeper—not just for survival, but for access to support. Can you afford to hire help? Can you pay for care, for rest, for ease?
But when we define resourcing only through mindset and money, we flatten the full spectrum of what it means to be supported. We overlook the many other places we can draw strength, nourishment, and guidance, especially in seasons when thinking harder or earning more means pulling from an already undernourished, dry landscape.
This summer, I’ve been reminded of how many other forms of resourcing are available to us. Not just the kind we earn or control, but the kind we belong to, participate in, and receive.
These sources of support aren’t just maligned in our culture. Western society has done a remarkable job of explicitly rewarding extraction from these areas of support.
But these are often the most regenerative sources we can turn to.
And today, I want to share a few of those with you, inspired by those I’m in relationship with.
Support from “More than Human” sources
“I think the summer of support is a time when we can surrender to great sources of help and hydration. You have access to so much more support than you might even know.
So be here, and not just by yourself, shallowly rooted and thirsty and undernourished, but be here with the full weight of the support of the land, your ancestors, of life itself.
Megan Leatherman of a Wild New Work calls us to tap into these “more-than-human sources” of support for nourishment this season.
“These are yours,” she reminds us. “They’re your roots. It’s the land right beneath your feet.”
In her latest podcast episode, Megan lays out four places of support she’s exploring this summer:
- Wayfinding: How to listen and follow the signs you’re given so that it’s not so hard
- Wise and Well Ancestors: What might change in your life if you could tap into the thousands who have come before you
- The Five Elements: Fire, water, mineral, earth, wood - how can we mirror the beauty and balance in this world and remember our options to show up naturally
- The Land: How can you develop a strong connection to place, wherever you are
Megan will dive deeply into each of these four areas in her A Wild New Work podcast and newsletter over the summer, which will be a lovely source of knowledge and support. I encourage you to sign up for her lovely messages.
Support from our bodies
I have a complicated relationship with my body, which might be relatable to you. I often feel at odds with it: overriding its signals, “thinking” through everything, and pushing it past its limits in service of my to-do list. Living only in my head.
Which is why I’m grateful for Annie Bray.
Through her somatic guidance and reminders, I remember that I can shift my state and receive support from my body, instead of resisting it. She encourages me to slow down and listen to the innate wisdom from my body.
We’ve got such a habit of hunching, leaning or falling forward as we make our way through our days. It can lead to a real decrease in spinal range of motion.
As you may already know—you’ll find out if you stick around—I am NOT here to critique your posture, add to your to-do list or offer annoying life hacks. I am, however, fascinated by the strange and magical way that five minutes of the simplest intentional movement can shift our state.
So, while I can’t promise what the state shift will be—and there’s no guarantee it will work at all—often, we can gain a little space and insight just by changing our shape.
Annie is offering a weekly somatic practice class for midlife women, starting in June. You can also join her Fire Seasons Substack, with short somatic audio practices and monthly essays about how we’re responding, resisting, and resourcing in the face of it all.
Support from each other
When I first created the Deeper Business Membership, I thought it would be a way to offer access to my course recordings.
But it’s become so much more than that.
Without even having a traditional community forum (too noisy for me), it’s turned into a deeply connected space.
We plan together quarterly. We do our outreach and track metrics together, we connect with each other live. We show up to the work—not doing this work alone, but alongside each other.
And the connections forming in this community? They’re incredible, and I don’t even know about many of them until later:
- Guest podcast appearances
- Shared clients through joint programs
- Hiring each other
- Warm intros that lead to high-profile speaking engagements
The magic comes from shared values. The conversation moves more easily when we’re starting from a foundation of alignment.
If you’re looking for a place to learn the foundations, or maintain the ones you’ve built, I hope you’ll consider joining us.
This season, I encourage you to expand your sense of what support can be.
Beyond the financial.
Beneath the surface.
Outside the frame of what you thought you had to do alone.
Because we’re not meant to hold it all alone. And we don’t have to.
We’re more resourced than we know, but only if we’re willing to expand our definition and to receive the support that’s available to us.