What It Means to Reckon — and Why We Can’t Wait Any Longer
Reflection is a radical act of change.
Hey there, friends — take a deep breath before you read this.
Not a performative inhale, not the kind you take in yoga class because someone told you to.
I mean a real one — the kind that expands your ribs, makes your heart knock against your sternum, and reminds you that you’re alive in a time that demands something from you.
That’s what Reckon With the Moment is all about: the space between awareness and action. The pause before we speak up, the silence before we name what’s true, the courage to look straight at what we’ve avoided — and to keep looking until it shifts something inside us.
We’ve all been living through years of whiplash — social unrest, political fatigue, climate anxiety, personal grief layered over global chaos. And somewhere in all of it, we’ve lost the collective muscle of reflection. Of sitting still long enough to reckon.
So that’s what we’re doing here. This is the beginning of a series that doesn’t just talk about change — it holds the mirror steady.
To reckon is not to wallow.
It’s not about self-flagellation, guilt, or grandstanding.
To reckon is to account for the truth of what is.
It’s the math of morality — adding up our values, subtracting our excuses, and facing the remainder honestly.
There’s so much in the world right now that asks to be reckoned with:
Systems that privilege a few while exploiting many
The quiet ways we participate in those systems
The fatigue of those who have always fought for change
The illusion that reflection is passive when it’s actually the birthplace of resistance
Each week (or however often this blog calls to be written), we’ll take one of these truths and hold it up to the light — not to shame, but to illuminate.
Because reckoning isn’t a confession booth; it’s a workshop. A forge.
It’s where we take the raw materials of discomfort and hammer them into something useful — awareness, empathy, and eventually, action.
Themes to Expect
You’ll find a mix of stories, questions, and practices here — grounded in three intertwined threads:
Reflection:
We’ll talk about the internal work — the unlearning, the small awakenings, the reckoning that happens when the headlines fade and it’s just you, your thoughts, and your conscience.Resistance:
We’ll face what’s happening in the world — from systemic oppression and political apathy to the quiet revolutions of everyday people who refuse to look away.Repair:
Because reckoning without healing is just a wound with a microphone. We’ll explore what restoration looks like — personal, collective, ecological, spiritual.
Personal Reflection
I’ll be honest: I didn’t start this space because I have answers.
I started it because I had questions that wouldn’t leave me alone.
Questions like:
How do we keep our hearts open when the news feels unbearable?
How do we talk about accountability without falling into shame or cynicism?
What does justice look like in our own small circles — families, workplaces, friendships — not just in marches and hashtags?
If those questions keep you up too, you’re in the right place.
Reckon With the Moment isn’t here to tell you what to believe. It’s here to help you practice believing differently.
To listen more deeply. To slow your reaction and expand your reflection.
To find meaning in the middle of the mess.
Reckon With Practice
At the end of each post, you’ll get a small, grounding action to bring reflection into daily life.
Here’s the first one:
This Week’s Reckon With Practice:
Choose one headline or story that made your chest tighten this week.
Instead of scrolling past, pause.
Ask yourself: What emotion is this stirring in me — anger, fear, sadness, fatigue?
Then write for five minutes without censoring yourself.
Don’t post it. Don’t edit it. Just reckon with it.
That’s where the shift begins — not online, but in the quiet room where you finally stop pretending you’re okay.
Journal Prompts
What part of the world’s pain do I find hardest to look at — and why?
How do I tend to respond when I feel powerless: distraction, denial, action, despair?
What does “repair” mean to me, and where might it begin in my own life?
Affirmation
“I can’t fix everything, but I can face what is mine to face.”
Say it aloud. Whisper it when the news scrolls by.
It’s not an excuse for inaction — it’s a commitment to conscious participation.
Mini Ritual / Action Step
Before you close your laptop or scroll to the next thing, take one small act of restoration:
Send a message of gratitude to a friend doing hard community work.
Donate $5 to a grassroots org you believe in.
Take a walk and let yourself feel instead of analyzing.
Activism begins with awareness — but it survives through tenderness.
Quote
“The future is built by those who are brave enough to reckon with the present.”
— Adrienne Maree Brown
So, what about you?
What truth are you being called to reckon with right now — personally or politically?
Share in the comments or write it down privately, but don’t let it drift away.
This is the work. This is the beginning.
If this post stirred something in you — if it made you pause or breathe a little deeper — pass it on.
Send it to someone who’s been quiet lately.
Someone who’s trying to make sense of it all.
Someone who might need to be reminded that reckoning is not hopelessness — it’s hope in motion.
Join the Movement
Reckon With the Moment is more than a blog. It’s a collective practice in reflection and repair.
Sign up at reckonwith.org to join the conversation, get future posts in your inbox, and find resources for taking this work deeper — from reading lists to local action guides.
Together, we’ll face what’s hard to face, name what needs naming, and imagine a future worth building.
Because the moment is here.
And it’s asking us to reckon.
Suggested Resources
Emergent Strategy by Adrienne Maree Brown
My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem
Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersey
The Nap Ministry (Instagram + site)
The Center for Cultural Power (resources for artists and activists)
Black Voters Matter (grassroots organizing)
If today’s post stirred something in you, don’t let it end here.
Join a Reckon With Group through reckonwith.org.
These small, compassionate circles are for white people — and those who move through the world as white — to face truth, unlearn silence, and begin the slow, sacred work of healing and repair.
We listen. We learn. We reckon — together.
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