Read the TELL STEP UP Community Voice by AFWJ:
A Step Closer Together
I am supporting STEP UP with the AFWJ Wonderwomen! AFWJ is the Association of Foreign Wives of Japanese.
TELL is great. About six years ago, I felt overwhelmed with PTA, Gakudo, Kodomo Kai, Jichikai, a husband working long hours, rudimentary Japanese skills, and a son who often refused to go to school. I thought the “T” of TELL was Tokyo, and I was in Tochigi, but I reached out to TELL anyway. Selena Hoy enabled me to join Exceptional Parenting seminars through streaming video. Yeah!
For this challenge, I have a walking plan to look forward to, a team, and motivation to take a long, long walk. I plan to walk 10 km, to my tutoring job and back. Our team members will cheer each other on, holding each other accountable, whether or not we can walk on the same day.
Walking makes us feel better about everything: moving, noticing beauty, feeling wonder and awe, realizing our place in nature, getting out of our busy minds, enjoying our senses outside, appreciating our place in the big picture. I can find my own space, toss the mask, breathe deeply, and feel expansive. I love to walk along a beach or riverside, or in a forest or bamboo grove.
By walking, in groups, albeit virtual, for STEP UP, is a way to feed our souls through this pandemic. Perhaps, if we make a habit of walking outdoors, basking in nature, TELL will not have to deal with so many calls I hope more and more people join this challenge. The “L” of TELL is “Lifeline,” and I am happy to walk in solidarity to form a strong lifeline for international residents in Japan. Between 9/10 and 10/10 I also plan to reach out online to a different person each day to say, “thinking of you, how’s it going?”
REGISTER TO STEP UP: https://www.tellevents.org/
#StepUpChallenge #ShatterTheStigma #TELLisHereforYou #TakeAStep #SaveALife