Some of the people who shape us most are the ones we barely know. A reflection on a middle school crossing guard, the barista who knows your order, and why the small connections at the edges of our lives may matter more than we think.

Awareness opens a door. Connection walks through it with you. An honest reflection on what Mental Health Awareness Month gets right, and what the sector is still missing.

Six years after the pandemic began, we're still trying to find the words for what we lost. Loneliness has quietly reshaped the way we move through the world — how we date, how we socialize, whether we talk to strangers at all. But something is shifting. People are lacing up for run clubs, swapping smartphones for screen-less phones, and showing up for each other in small, intentional ways. This is about what that means, and why proximity might be the most powerful thing we have.