Author: shaylynrg

Tracking and Stacking

January 15, 2019

Successful authors say you become a writer by writing. And when it comes to community, you become a connector by connecting. The magic is in the daily doing. This week I’m trying two new tools to help me stick to my goal of reaching out every day.

Humble-Brag Hurrying

January 10, 2019

The minute we flag our busyness in a social interaction, we send a signal to the person we’re talking with that we don’t have much time to be with them—that we have important things to do and places to be, and that we’d better make it quick. This subtle cue cuts off conversation, isolates us from others, and insulates us from connection.

Project Reconnect?

December 30, 2018

Project Reconnect is about awakening—to my own unmet need to connect and belong, and to the vibrant but latent relationships and communities all around me that are waiting to be activated.

America the Lonely

December 27, 2018

Could the source of our national sickness and my own ongoing sense of incompleteness be one and the same? And could the solution be–if not simpler, then far more elemental–than we think?

The Thread of Community

December 26, 2018

I have begun to see that the hole in my soul that has recently been calling out for attention is in the shape of something I have thought more about than almost anyone, but, in reality, have less of than almost everyone.

The Long Loneliness

December 23, 2018

Healing without sharing has been lonely. A good kind of lonely, maybe—the kind usually described with lovely-sounding words like “solitude” or “seclusion.” But lately it’s started to feel like my period of spiritual confinement might be coming to an end.

About Project Reconnect

What is it about our culture, habits, and daily lives that makes it so hard to feel connected, enmeshed in supportive community, and whole?

I started Project Reconnect in 2019 to experiment with very personal and local ways to challenge and change the hyper-individualism that has created a crisis of loneliness and social fragmentation in America. As I have reviewed my pre-pandemic writing, I’ve been astonished at how resonant it feels as we look to a post-Covid future.

And so, Project Reconnect continues—under circumstances that make experiencing deep connection feel more challenging and elusive than ever. Today my ambitions are humbler, my approach a bit gentler, and my starting point more vulnerable, more raw. Indeed, what felt like an urgent endeavor in 2019 feels like a burning fire of need in 2021—both personally and collectively.

So join me–let’s reconnect.