Finding Your Lane + Staying Centered as Changemakers
🛠️ Tool of the Week:
The Social Change Ecosystem Map by Deepa Iyer
Use this to clarify your role(s) and build collaborative strategy with others.
Scroll to the bottom for a guided activity and reflection!
Download it here
Finding Your Lane When Everything Is on Fire
ICE raids are terrorizing our families and small businesses. State-sanctioned violence rages on. Public assistance like Medi-Cal and Planned Parenthood is under threat. Our trans and queer communities are being attacked. Even the beaches in SoCal aren’t safe—pollution levels have reached toxic highs.
It’s easy to feel pulled in every direction. Personally, I’ve been having a hard time focusing. My heart’s bursting at the seams, and my hands are grasping for ways to do something that actually matters. If you’re feeling the same way—you’re not alone.
As systems change leaders, community organizers, facilitators… and just human beings… we have a vital role to play. But we can’t be everything to everyone. That leads to burnout, ineffectiveness, and missed opportunities for real impact.
“We can be anything we want, but we can’t be everything.”
This week, I want to help you think about your lane—how to move with purpose instead of pressure. Here’s how that’s looked for me this month.
What Role Are You Playing Right Now?
This past month, I moved through multiple roles—each with intention and limits.
As a storyteller, I captured video and shared firsthand stories from the frontline protests against unlawful ICE raids in LA. These weren’t chaotic scenes—despite what national news says. What I saw was peaceful, powerful resistance. I shared this not just online, but in personal convos with loved ones stuck in their media echo chambers.
As a disrupter, I used my platform to speak our community’s truth. I wrote a spoken word piece calling out silence and complicity—it’s maybe the most meaningful thing I’ve created to date. [Link to piece]
As a guide, I facilitated trainings with young advocates, exploring community organizing, collective power, and social movement history—from the Civil Rights Movement to leaders like Dolores Huerta. We mapped out strategy and stakeholder relationships, so they could build their own local campaigns.
And then—I hit capacity.
Being a storyteller doesn’t mean sharing 20 frantic Instagram stories a day.
Being a healer doesn’t mean carrying others until your wrists break.
Being a disrupter takes care, planning, and an honest look at your safety and tools.
Sustainability is strategy.
Here’s an exercise I challenge you (or your team) to try:
Download the Social Change Ecosystem Map (linked here).
Read through the 10 roles and reflect on where you feel most called right now.
Pick 1–3 roles max to focus on this month.
Ask yourself:
How many hours a week can I realistically dedicate to this role?
What specific activities will I take on in that role?
What other roles do I want to collaborate with more deeply?
Bonus: For each of the 10 roles, can you name a person or organization in your circle who embodies it? Map that out. Share it with your team or peers.
We don’t need everyone doing everything. We need everyone doing their thing well.
🎥 THR!VE Spotlight:
Want to see THR!VE in action? Check out this video recap we edited to capture the powerful work we had the privilege of leading with OC Action and We Are California:
🌱 Role Spotlights (IG handles linked):
Storyteller → @_vigilantoc: Victor Valladares capturing ICE raids + protest footage to keep community safe & informed.
Guide → @wercalifornia: We Are California is mobilizing labor, artists, and immigrant rights orgs statewide.
Weaver → @ocation: OC Action is bridging strategy between regional and statewide movements.
Experimenter → @oc_psl: Hosting Sick of ICE potluck + grocery distro to economically support impacted families.
Frontline Responder → @ocrrn: Showing up to court, documenting rights violations, and offering rapid Know Your Rights trainings.
Visionary → @freedomcommunityclinic: The Freedom Community Clinic is blending ancestral healing with integrative medicine through pop-ups that offer culturally rooted, trauma-informed care.
Builder → @ca_yenetwork & @ylinstitute: CAYEN and Youth Leadership Institute are training youth advocates to lead systems change and secure public funding for mental health equity.
Caregiver → @queerchata: Queer POC social joy through bachata & belonging.
Disrupter → @no.sleep.for.ice: Hotel protests driving ICE out with people-powered, peaceful disruption.
Healer → @nipahutwellness: Lisa Gonsalves offering grounding sound bath healing.
🤝 Mutual Aid Corner
đź“Ť Reclaim Our Streets - LA
Weekly actions at 4 PM in various neighborhoods. Follow for location updates:
👉 @link
đź“Ť Sick of ICE Potluck + Grocery Distribution
Santa Ana – Memorial Park
🗓️ Tuesday, July 1st | 🕕 6 PM
👉 @link
Closing Thoughts
If this newsletter sparked something for you—big or small—hit reply and say hi.
I’d love to hear which roles resonated, or what shifts you’re making to stay grounded and effective.
We can’t do it all. But we can do our part—together.
Let this be your sign to focus, recalibrate, and thrive.
With love and fight,
✊
Matthew Diep
Founder & Lead Consultant
THR!VE Social Impact Consulting