Key features:
- Flow and Resistance
- Seasonal Rhythms
- Shaping the Landscape
- Multiple Currents
- Confluence
I much prefer the word agency in lieu of leadership. Agency emphasizes autonomy, the capacity to act, and the power to shape outcomes.
There are many rivers in my life: Ticino, Paraná and Saint-Laurent. I am currently unable to access a river within walking distance and that makes my heart ache.
I am drawn to the river as a metaphor for agency, not only because it has been a key place where I go to feel centered, but because as neurodivergent person with chronic fatigue, it resonates with the idea of non-linear, adaptive movement that flows with natural rhythms rather than against them.
Rivers don’t fight obstacles: they find ways around, under, or through them. As a river, it means having to recognize when to push forward and when to find alternative paths.
Rivers have high and low seasons, periods of rushing intensity and gentle meandering. I find myself shifting between hyperfocus/high-energy days to lower-energy phases. Both are valuable.
Rivers are also inspiring because with consistency and time, they persistently reshape everything around them. Sometimes for the sake of energy, it’s best to bend to existing structures, but sometimes it gets too tiring to do so. There are moments when creating new streams is the best way to exist.
Rivers have surface currents, undercurrents, and eddies all flowing simultaneously. Sometimes I am not the loudest current in the room. Sometimes I opt for the kind of reflective, intuitive rush that emerges from stillness. Sometimes going counter-current is needed to shift.
Rivers have tributaries and deltas. They join forces with other tides, jets and streams.I find strength and joy from flowing with others.
