My 2025 A to Z Challenge theme is activism. I’ve been a Black Lives Matter activist for over a decade. I’m not an expert. I do have experience to share and I’m hoping to learn from your experiences, too. We’re all in this together.

As anyone knows who has developed a daily practice for health or spiritual reasons, there’s a special magic in doing something every day. What seems impossible becomes simply hard and, eventually, an easy habit. A huge project gets completed by a tiny task, completed consistently, day after day.

Of course, no one can organize or attend a giant rally every day, like many of us will tomorrow. But even giant rallies take lots of little tasks on lots of people’s to-do lists to get organized.

A focus on activism, every day, means paying attention to the small things that cause change over time. They can feel like nothing, but they aren’t. Raindrops make rivers. Small actions — phone calls to elected officials, organizing emails, small meetings to plan big meetings — are the ways to keep moving toward the goal of a better world.

My practice of a daily focus on changing the world has proved to be a healing act for me. My daily Facebook posts force me away from despair and toward self-care, community, and action.

My practice began, on a whim, on a day that I had a desire to do something, anything. On November 9, 2016, the day after the election when Hilary Clinton did not win the presidency, I posted this on my Facebook page:

What will we do today to take care of ourselves? What will we do today to change the world?

I will take care of myself by meeting a friend for a healthy salad lunch and healing conversation. Plus, take deep breaths.

I will change the world by meeting with a school superintendent to personally invite him to the Regional School Assembly – Keeping Our Kids in the Classroom (You’re invited, too! Click on the Tickets link to register).

I continued to ask those two questions every day for over a year and, frequently, ever since then. I’ve posted those two questions every day this month as a way to share these A to Z posts.

Here’s a post from a day in 2018 when I was sick:

What will we do today to take care of ourselves? What will we do today to change the world?

Today, I will recover from stomach flu ☹️

Today, I will send an email to help with a meeting that I won’t be able to attend.

Here’s a post from late October 2020, that time when staying away from other people felt like the best way to care for one another:

What will we do today to take care of ourselves? What will we do today to change the world?

Today, I’m logging off Facebook for a few days for some time of peace and reflection ahead of my busy NaNoWriMo month. I’ll leave you with some orange flowers to celebrate the season.

Today and for the next few days, I will limit my contact with fellow humans and wear a mask when I’m going to be closer than a dozen feet, or so. Our regional hospitals are at or near capacity (link in the comments to the report from our local Fox affiliate for the skeptics).

This means that our health care workers are stressed to the max. This means that patients will suffer from slow or lacking treatment and that some will die — and not just from COVID.
I will pray for health care workers, patients, and families. And, I will wear my mask.

Here’s the post from the day my husband had cancer surgery in the spring of 2021.

What will we do today to take care of ourselves? What will we do today to change the world?

Today, I’m feeling grateful for vaccine researchers and my brother. Dale will be with me this afternoon during Rick’s surgery. When we did the biopsy in January, I was alone because no one was vaccinated yet and it didn’t feel safe. Now, we’re both vaccinated and it does feel safe.

Today, I’m encouraging everyone to get vaccinated. You never know when someone might need your vaccinated self to be a comforting presence in their lives.

Here’s a post from the day after Queen Elizabeth died, that includes how mundane many of my actions to change the world are:

What will we do today to take care of ourselves? What will we do today to change the world?

Today, I’m sharing the pre-scheduled British Isles Friday post in my September series about Agatha Christie. Next week, I’ll see if I can come up with something more informative about what happens in Britain when the monarch dies — very few people in the world today have memories of the last time that happened.

Today, I’ll monitor my emails for next steps coming out of emails that I sent earlier this week — the invisible work of changing the world.

Sometimes, I change the world by simply sharing something beautiful. This was from the third Sunday in Advent in 2024:

What will we do today to take care of ourselves? What will we do today to change the world?

Today, Gaudete Sunday, I will rejoice in the things in my life that work. Some of those things came from conscious and careful structures that I designed for myself. Others were provided to me with no conscious effort on my part.

Today, I’m sharing this song that I’ve enjoyed each year since I discovered it.

Sometimes, I change the world by just remembering to appreciate others. Here is yesterday’s post:

What will we do today to take care of ourselves? What will we do today to change the world?

Today, I get to spend some time writing blog posts, one of my favorite activities.

Today, I shared the C post for A to Z Challenge about activism. C is for Community, a foundation for my activism. Thank you to everyone who is in community with me. My community includes lots of people in the St. Louis area. My community includes anyone who reads these posts, especially the ones who leave encouraging emojis and comments. Thank you!

What would a daily practice of activism look like in your life?