Beyond Permission and Proof

Lessons from the Long Haul

The black text on my desktop starts to blur around midnight. My fingers feel heavy, clumsy on the keys as autocorrect works overtime to catch the mistakes I can no longer see. Behind me, the dark window reflects back the glowing screen. Just a few more sentences, I tell myself. Then a few more paragraphs.

I take off my glasses and rub my eyes. The same words swim in front of me, resistant to revision. This proposal is due at close of business in London, which means I have until morning here. This is the fifth revision in the final hours. Maybe the sixth.

What drives me back to the screen is not pursuit of perfectionism. It is something deeper and more difficult to name. The fear that if this proposal is not airtight, someone will decide I do not belong at this table. That my voice in climate policy spaces is provisional, contingent on flawless execution. That I am still earning the right to be here.

In her book The Serviceberry (Bookshop link), Robin Wall Kimmerer writes about the serviceberry bush and its relationship to the Cedar Waxwings that feast on its fruit. The bush produces far more berries than any single flock could eat. The birds take what they need and leave the rest for others. This abundance without depletion, Kimmerer suggests, offers a model for how we might live differently. She writes:

I think about this at my desk in the dark hours. The serviceberry does not prove itself worthy of sunlight. The waxwing does not earn permission to eat. They simply participate in the ecosystem, each offering what they have.

But I’m still here, revising, convinced that my belonging in professional and community climate spaces depends on getting every detail right. That one misstep will confirm what I fear others are thinking: that I do not actually belong here.

What if the concept of enoughness applied not just to consumption but to our own worthiness? Not more credentials to earn. Not more proof to provide. Not endless demonstration that we have the right to speak. What if we could trust that our presence in this work is already legitimate, that our contribution already matters.

Field-Tested: Releasing the Proving Loop

Sustaining momentum over years requires protecting your health and capacity to think clearly. For many of us, this means releasing the belief that we must continuously prove we belong. Here is an approach that I return to again and again, particularly when the voice of self-doubt grows loud.

Name what you are actually protecting against. I used to think I was pursuing excellence. What I was actually doing was building a defense against being told I did not belong. Notice what fear lives beneath your late-night revisions. Is it truly about quality, or is it about worthiness. About being misunderstood or dismissed? Naming the real fear makes it possible to address it directly.

Set "good enough" criteria before you begin. Ask yourself what gets you 80% of the way there. Identify the essential elements that must be completed and the supporting tasks that serve those essentials. Build those supporting tasks into your timeline as mini-deadelines in the weeks before the final due date. When the voice that questions your belonging (or other fear) shows up, you can point to your criteria: this is what good enough looks like, and I have met it.

Build accountability with affirming colleagues. In the weeks and days leading up to your deadline, check in with a colleague or friend who already sees you as legitimate in this work. Let them remind you that your place at the table is not contingent on a flawless deliverable. This prevents the common slide where fear of not belongering drives one frantic final day of over-revision.

Celebrate work that is complete, not perfect. When something launches or ships, mark it. Notice that you are still here, still invited to the work, still belonging. Your worthiness did not depend on getting every word exactly right. Ask yourself: what did I learn about my own reliance and legitimacy through this process.

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I revisit this practice monthly, sometimes weekly. The fear of not belonging does not disappear. I have learned to recognize it as a signal, not a truth. My work is part of a regenerative system. My contribution matters not because it is flawless because it is offered with care and integrity. The work continues, and so does my legitimate place in it.

Signals & Shifts

Western Alaska communities face displacement after ex-Typhoon Halong. Over 650 people had to evacuate from across Southwest Alaska as extreme winds and flooding hit the region in October 2025. Many don’t know when or if they can return to their villages. Jeron Joseph’s powerful first hand account published in Northern Journal captures the urgency of this moment. Climate impacts are arriving faster than institutional systems can respond. These risks grow when we delay action on climate adaptation and response. If you can, contribute to the Alaska Conservation Foundation’s Western Alaska Disaster Relief Fund, and consider amplifying what’s happening in our communities.

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​adrienne maree brown on remembering we are earth. The displacement in Alaska reminds us that climate is not abstract—it’s about people, place, and our interconnection with living systems. In this Atmos piece, brown writes about moving beyond the idea that we must earn our place in the natural world or in the work of caring for it. “We are not separate from earth, trying to save it,” she reminds us. “We are earth, attempting to remember ourselves.” This reframe shifts the question from whether we belong in climate work to recognizing that our participation is already part of the living system.

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Question for reflection: What would change in your climate work this week if you trusted that your belonging is not something that you need to earn, but something you already have?

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Take good care of yourself and the work that's yours to do. Both matter more than you know.

Nikoosh

Work That Lasts arrives every other Wednesday. Forward to a colleague who might need these tools, or reply and let me know what's working in your own practice.

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