Practical traction after a hard hit—field notes and tools for rebuilding without performative positivity
Hello there, ledge walkers.I was thinking about yesterday's post, about getting tired of asking people to do things and eventually realizing that chasing other adults has become a job all by itself.And it reminded me of a family story from many, many moons ago.My aunt did not like her kitchen.I don't remember exactly how long … Continue reading Sometimes you Have to Pick up the Sledgehammer!
Today, I Don't Give a Crap Hey there, ledge walkers. How are you all today? I hope you're having a better day than I am. I wasn't sure whether I was going to post this. Part of me thought maybe I should just keep it to myself, let the mood pass, and come back when … Continue reading The Give-a-Crap Tank Is Empty
There comes a point where the tools have to become more than words on a page. I have to be willing to use them on myself. I am tired. Not the satisfying kind of tired that comes after finishing something. This is the sore, restless, frustrated kind of tired where I know I need sleep, … Continue reading When the Rebuild Slips Out of Rhythm: Using Low Capacity Mode
A reflection on Individual and Community Responses to Trauma and Disaster: The Structure of Human Chaos There are some books that teach you something new, and there are others that give a name to something you have already lived through. Individual and Community Responses to Trauma and Disaster: The Structure of Human Chaos, edited by … Continue reading Giving Chaos a Shape
What the Learning Journals Are Teaching Me About Standing on the Ledge When I first started Standing on the Ledge, I thought I was writing about collapse. Honestly, that made sense at the time. Collapse was the thing sitting right in front of me. It was the thing I could feel, the thing I was … Continue reading Learning Why the Ledge Was There
Reader's Moment There is pressure to make recovery look good. To have the lesson ready. To sound wise. To explain the transformation. To be grateful for the wound because it made you stronger. To turn the collapse into a clean story with a satisfying arc. Sometimes that arc exists. Often it does not exist yet. … Continue reading You Do Not Have to Perform Recovery to Be Rebuilding
Reader's Moment There is a moment after pressure hits when life becomes all reaction. Answer the message. Check the account. Explain yourself. Defend yourself. Put out the fire. Apologize. Recalculate. Replay. Brace. You are moving, but not always choosing. That is the difference between reaction and agency. Standing on the Ledge lives in that difference. … Continue reading From Reaction to Agency
Reader's Moment Sometimes the hardest part of collapse is not the event itself. It is carrying it unseen. You want someone to understand what happened without taking over, judging, rescuing, minimizing, gossiping, or turning your pain into their platform. You want a witness. Not an audience. Not a judge. Not a saviour. Not a person … Continue reading The Witness Problem: What If Nobody Safe Is Watching?
Reader's Moment There is a ledger many of us carry without naming it. It does not live in a spreadsheet. It does not sit in a binder. It does not ask for receipts. It lives in the chest, the stomach, the jaw, the 3 a.m. replay, the apology you keep giving long after the facts … Continue reading The Shame Ledger Lies Under Pressure
Organizational Behaviour on the Ledge: What We Have Learned So Far Standing on the Ledge began as a record of collapse, but the Organizational Behaviour learning journals have started to give that collapse a working language. At first, SOTL was about impact: what happens when the floor drops out, when work disappears, when trust breaks, … Continue reading Learning to See the System
Standing on the Ledge 