Once upon a time we normalised women leaders breaking down. We normalised crying in bathrooms, alone. We normalised waking up in cold sweats, with palpitations. We normalised not sleeping, and had anxiety dreams about birthday parties. We normalised crappy eating habits, if we ate at all. We normalised splitting ourselves in half for work or for our communities and pretending that our children didn’t exist. That we had no elderly parents to care for, or health worries to think about. We normalised pretending everything was ok because who else was going to do the shopping. We normalised competing with each other because we were told there wasn’t enough to go around…

We are commited to change. To having hard conversations and resisting radicalisation. We will do this with care, compassion, community, connection and creativity. This is what we’ll do over the next three years

The dots was founded on the values of compassion, community and connection.

These last couple of weeks have shown we are in dire need of all of the above. I’ve lived in Scotland for nearly 20 years but was born and raised in East Kent- think small seaside towns and cobbled streets. And now, Reform.

Seeing how far Reform has spread in the local elections and seeing the responses to the high court judgement around sex and gender is utterly despairing. Have we really lost our compassion, our empathy towards each other to such an extent that we are actively seeking to harm minoritised groups? To force people back into closets? To tell people to stay in countries and communities that are unsafe? To spread racist lies that divide us and cause fear and real hurt?

A gem from a scroll that I’ve since misplaced said that these men in charge, these abusers online, they want to destroy. In our resistance; we create. This month then, I’ve been doubling down on creation.

As part of my interest in what helps us feel better, I’ve been recording sounds during times when I feel good- and in the evening, I've been listening back to see if these sounds continue to have the same effect. What really struck me is that in each recording the key part is the relationships within them. If the birds are singing, if my children are talking, if my husband is chatting, if friends are laughing, if it’s the sound of the spokes of my bike turning, the hum of the conversations of strangers, or the sound of my breathing after I’ve been running; in each of these sounds, I’m in relation and conversation with others- and myself. I’m actively listening, watching, feeling, I’m talking to the space around me. I’m not sure what I’ll do with these sounds next, but at the moment they feel very collagey, so I’ll see where they land as I keep recording

It’s also the end of the financial year, and if you’ve got an underspend you’d like to allocate, have a look over the menu of options here

It’s the hope that keeps us here.

Despite living in a dystopia ruled by embarrassing men, we can still have hope. We can still have community. We can still see change.

Supporting women who are juggling lots of different roles and helping folk to prioritise their own wellbeing through lots of creative activities.

Connections are fundamental.