Dear friends,

It’s my pleasure to hand over this month’s newsletter greeting to my esteemed colleague, HealthBegins’ Vice President of Learning and Innovation, Glasha Marcon. Enjoy!

Best,

Rishi Manchanda, MD, MPH.

While this is a season of rest and renewal, many of us in health equity are gathering strength for what promises to be a challenging year ahead. In moments like these, we often talk about being grateful for “small wins”—the incremental, almost imperceptible steps we take in our clinics and communities towards health equity.

But as I reflect on past experiences, I realize “small wins” is a misnomer. These accomplishments are rarely small. They accumulate, creating momentum and building something far greater. Perhaps it’s time to rethink and rename them entirely. To find inspiration, we can turn to nature.

I’ve been studying permaculture—a design process in which you observe natural processes and systems to create ecologically and socially sustainable ways of living—for about five years. My partner and I have spent seasons learning from the small plot of earth we steward. We’ve observed how sunlight and shade shift throughout the day, where rainwater pools, and which plants thrive or falter.

We live in Oakland, CA, which experiences seasons of intense rains and flooding, followed by dry spells and even droughts. Inspired by plants and animals who store water for dry periods,  we installed a rainwater catchment system. And when I say “we,” I mean that I had the idea and my partner did all the work 😀.

Thankfully, we didn’t have to start from scratch to solve this problem. Communities have been building systems to catch, divert, and store water for more than 4,000 years. Our system captures every drop of rain from our roof, redirecting it into barrels to prevent flooding on our sidewalk and street. This stored water will nourish our garden during dry periods and, in emergencies, can provide fresh water for our family and neighbors.

What can this system teach us about living in balance, and even about justice work?

• Weathering storms: Catchment systems prevent rain from becoming a flood. Similarly, we must cultivate intentional practices to manage overwhelm during challenging times.

• Storing for opportune moments: Stored rainwater serves as a reserve during droughts. In the same way, conserving energy ensures we can rise to the occasion when it matters most.

• Every drop matters: A rain barrel fills one drop at a time. Celebrate incremental progress as meaningful momentum toward a larger achievement.

Inspired by these lessons, I propose we rebrand “small wins” as “momentum milestones” to better reflect their value and necessity. Each drop of progress fills our collective reservoir, sustaining us as we build toward a more equitable future.

As 2024 draws to a close, let’s use this time of reflection to design our own catchment systems, collect momentum milestones, and store them to support our work in the year ahead.

Best,

Glasha