Holding On and Letting Go

Dear Notes on Hope Readers, 

I've been traveling this weekend, so I’m not sharing the usual essay tonight. I’ve spent the last few days celebrating the fierce and beautiful life of the friend I wrote about a few weeks ago. It’s been a sad weekend, but also a precious and inspiring one. 

We saw art exhibits I know she would have loved, ate food she relished, and, most importantly, gathered with her friends and family to share memories. She was someone with a deep capacity for love, an uncompromising moral compass, and a grounded knowing that made her a rare guidepost to those who knew her.

As the train carried us home this evening, I was thinking about the friends who help us live into our values as fully and honestly as possible. I’ve gathered some previous Notes on friendship below. I hope you’ll find something among them that inspires you to live a little closer to your own values, and closer to one another.

Notes on Friendship

• The Friends Who Remind Us Who We Are: Finding each other in a world where it’s easy to lose ourselves
• On Quiet Connections: The biggest parties aren’t the only ones that matter
• Embrace for Impact: Critical lessons in friendship, fidelity, and courage
• The Power of Us: A guide to resisting bullies
• The Friendships That Save Us: The math of our friendships isn't what matters most
• The Problem with the Oxygen Mask Analogy: What if we tried breathing together instead of rationing air

Wishing you nourishment and care, 

Alicia