Perspectives: Danielle Morvan
Danielle Morvan is a writer and environmental public health specialist committed to evolving the conversation on cross-cultural communication. She seeks out adventure and prefers to travel off the beaten path, which she shares on Instagram and Youtube. In November, Danielle joined us as a speaker at our RevelEleven event Playing with Privilege: Entitlement Unleashed where we dove into what it means to acknowledge our privileges and find worth through self inquiry. Now she’s back to share her struggles, triumphs, and insights from the past year. Keep reading for perspectives with Danielle…
What are you looking forward to in 2021?
I’m looking forward to reconciliation, people finding common ground amongst one another, a return to decency. 2020 was plagued with so many polarizing decisions that seemed to carry the weight of the future on its shoulders. We had to choose between personal freedoms or protecting the most vulnerable, social justice or law and order, and to forgive or to persecute. The burden of living through such a divisive time is that there is little room to extend grace towards those not in agreement. While some were silenced, others were given larger platforms. The long-term effects of the war on civility have yet to be fully realized but as with any war, a truce must be called and winners and losers alike must agree to drop their arms and begin cleaning up the rubble and working to rebuild what was lost. I’m looking forward to people being able to get offline, out of their insular homes, and reconnect with the world.
What comforts have you found help make you feel grounded in quarantine?
My journal has become my saving grace. This past year has certainly produced more questions than answers and it's been a challenge to trust that all things work together for our good. In fact, that very statement can feel a bit self-indulgent in times filled with so much uncertainty. So my journal has become my listening ear and a place for me to process all of the fear and disappointment I’ve experienced during the quarantine against my hope that we needed an experience this profound to arrest our attention and bring about in us the changes we would have otherwise been too busy, too self-involved or too unwilling to rock the boat to address. I’ve also developed a love for gluten-free chocolate zucchini muffins.
What have you learned about yourself in the past year?
I’m learning that I really have no control over what someone else chooses to do. I’ve struggled in my relationship with my mother for many years. My father was never involved in my life and my mother remarried when I was a child to a man who sexually molested me from the age of 4 until I was about 15 or 16. When my mother told me as a senior in high school that she and all my siblings would continue living with her husband but since I had a problem with him I needed to find somewhere else to live, I left with a deep longing in my heart for family. This year, after years of imagining a life where my mother was the main character – I was finally able to let it go. At the tender age of 33, after 16 years and completing high school, college, graduate school, traveling to over 36 countries and picking myself up over and over again, I finally learned, or maybe realized, that my mother may never choose to put forth any effort to be in my life and I’m going to be okay.
Do you have a mantra you are living with?
“When the eyes are healthy, the entire body fills with light.” 2020 has been all about vision. My mantra supports my intention for right perception and ultimately right action. To be able to see things clearly just as they are is an act of trust and a mental faculty that must be exercised. Something about the body filling with light speaks to me, makes me think of someone radiant.
How are you juggling business, family, and personal time from home?
I prefer to imagine myself cradling my professional, creative, and personal life as opposed to juggling. I hold and nurture each one and when the time is right, lay it down to rest. I have a demanding job as the environmental health program supervisor for a small, rural county. It requires me to wear a lot of hats and to maintain copacetic relationships with people I don’t always agree with. I do my best to manage it by working to over-deliver, stay out of conflict, practicing gratitude for my employment, and continuing to further my education. My creative life has been sustained through Writing Workshops, an organization based in Dallas, Texas. I’ve been fortunate enough to not only take part in a number of their memoir classes but to also be invited to interview the instructors on exactly what it took for them to reach publication and what inspired them to tell their story. My personal life has suffered this year. I’ve spent more time completely alone than possibly any other time in my life. My depressive episodes have been more intense but equally more insightful. I’ve allowed myself to get so much closer to the things that break my heart and surprisingly, acknowledging my pain has allowed me to feel so much more empowered. I guess that’s something else I’ve learned this year, the unexpected paradox that the deeper I dive into where I’m weak the more that I am made strong.
What are your goals for 2021?
A soft heart, a strong back, and a sharp mind.