Well, hello there. My name is Morgan Harper-Nichols. I'm an artist and a writer, and this is a space where I share words that I hope can make a little room for you to slow down and take a few deep breaths as you prepare for whatever lies ahead.

Thanks for being here today. And now on to today's episode.

When we think of fireworks, we often think of a celebration, a flash of luminousins turning the night's sky into a mosaic of lights and vibrant color. We use fireworks to describe how we feel when being in love or when we are growing and confidence and letting our colors shine. But what makes fireworks significant,

it's not that they are one big burst of light, but that they are made up of many different sparks of light,

all blooming into brilliance at once. And when I think about how often we see ourselves in competition

with other people, I think about how all of the different pieces of a

firework come together to create one beautiful image. Many of us struggle with finding our place

in the world, especially when we see others who seem to find their fit so easily. We may feel

like we are not doing enough or we're not as successful as our peers. We may get trapped in a

mindset that if we can't be better or quicker or smarter than someone else than our lives are lacking in significance.

We convince ourselves that when all is said and done, our contributions won't matter as much

and we will fail at leaving a legacy worth celebrating. But I think what fireworks can teach us is that there is significance in learning

how to collaborate and seeing what happens when many bursts of light are perfectly in sync

with one another. There are many instances in the world where we admire something in its

completed stage because it radiates beauty and light. And yet, when we look closer, we realize

it is made up of so many different parts. This can be as abstract as a painting in a museum or as

basic as the atoms that make up every piece of matter.

Even the abstract paintings we see are millions and billions of atoms combining to create what we perceive as a work of art.

What if we chose to see other people that way? What if, instead of comparing ourselves to

their achievements and their successes, we start to see ourselves as working in tandem with how

they move through the world? What if there was a way to see all of us as little burst of light coming together?

You're a little burst of light, they're a little burst of light, everyone in your industry,

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