Update: You can watch a video of 7 cups admin team sharing their thoughts here.

If I had to write a succinct version of this speech it would be 4 simple words.

I Love Our Community

That is the tl;dr version.

For those of you that want to hear or read more, then let me share the top 10 reasons why I love our community.

10. We are all different - We deeply - in our bones - value diversity here; Diversity across every dimension - SES, language, race, abilities, acculturation, orientation, ethnicity, religion and many, many, more. All of these differences, however, are held together, appreciated, and respected on a foundation of acceptance. Because of that, we get to all feel a little bit more comfortable with one another. We can take more risks. We can share more about who we are. When we do this together our community becomes that much more rich and beautiful.

9. We are builders - Have you seen this chart? Our community built that. Have you seen our forums? Our community built that. Have you seen the different training guides, feed posts, and outreach programs? Our community built all of that.

It sounds ridiculously ambitious, but you know what we are building? We - all of us together - are building a free global mental health system. Who does that? We do that, because we are builders.

8. We want to actually help people. At its core, 7 Cups is designed to help people. We try to take all the friction out of the process of both giving and receiving help. No money is needed. You dont have to drive anywhere. It is anonymous so there is no fear of judgment. It is messaging or a simple exercise so it is not too hard or intimidating. We have deliberately done all of this because we want to actually help people.

Also, we want to help people in measurable ways. Weve had third parties do research on 7 Cups. You can read about it here. The degree of how well we help people is mind-blowingly good, especially when you consider that it is free! We also show that we care about helping people in our stats, review processes, and quality scores. Our community is extraordinarily passionate about quality. I think this is something very unique about our culture.

7. We are patient. This 3 years has not been easy. Weve not been able to accomplish as much as we want. Sometimes we fail. Sometimes we lose track of things that are the most important things. Sometimes we unintentionally break something that is working perfectly well. Sometimes it takes us several weeks to figure out that we broke it.

I think we all know that we are all working really hard. We all really want 7 Cups to work. That trust we have for one another is a secret weapon. It glues us together and give us more space and time to problem solve. Things often take longer than expected. Knowing this - and showing patience towards one another - has helped us grow as a community. Weve developed unique strengths that never would have been able to develop if we were less patient with ourselves and one another.

6. We believe that each and every human is valuable. It doesnt matter who you are, it doesnt matter where you are from, it doesnt matter if you are from the other side of the tracks, it doesnt matter if you are not great at school, it doesnt matter if youve made a lot of mistakes, it doesnt matter if you have little money, and it doesnt matter if you have failed many times. We will care for you and accept you. Many places require you to show your value by having good looks, lots of money, or accomplishing a lot of things. There is this sort of measuring contest. First question when you meet someone is usually - what do you do? Not here on 7 Cups. We are like hikers on the Appalachian trail - no one asks your real name, no one cares to measure you against some arbitrary threshold. Nope - here - we are all just fellow travelers and we believe - in our words and actions - that each of us belongs here.

5. We know how to solve problems. Ive never seen a community better at solving problems. It is remarkable. Our core skill is listening. Id argue that problem solving is right up there near the top. It takes emotional resources, courage, and trust to solve problems. You have to be willing to face the problem, really get your arms around it, and then try and try and try to solve it. Our community is remarkably good at problem solving.

4. We are encouraging. Shout-outs, the welcoming committee, the PMs. Im not sure, but if I had to guess the % of forum posts/messages on our site that are encouraging, then Id have to say it is like 20%. I wish all the other groups I was part of were encouraging 20% of the time. That would be amazing. Encouragement helps soooo much. Many of us have been on the receiving end of encouragement right when we needed it. Someone shared a little bit of their light with us and it allowed us to take that next step forward. Encouragement is dramatically undervalued. On 7 Cups, we emotionally understand and deeply get the true power of encouragement.

3. We are empathic. Empathy is another one of those undervalued, but limitless resources that we all have the option of sharing. Unfortunately, many people look at life like it is a zero sum game. If I listen and care for you, then you might not listen and care for me. In our community, we believe in a higher ledger. We know that when you show empathy to another person it ripples out and impacts the people all around them. With enough ripples created we know many will come back and impact us as individuals as well.

2. We are resilient. I think many of us have had the good fortune of facing and overcoming many challenges in life. Some of us have grown up in rough family environments. Others have persevered through chronic health difficulties. Some of us have stubborn moods or anxiety that only lets up for brief moments. Many of us are survivors. We bring this sense of fortitude to our community. We know that whatever obstacles we face we will be able to overcome them if we persevere. We understand that 90% of it comes down to persevering. We do not give up!

1. We are hopeful! Some people see hope as weak. They see it as pie in the sky or a dream like quality. I disagree. Hope is strong. Shared hope is remarkably strong. We have hope for one another, we have hope for ourselves, we have hope for those we love, and we have hope for our community. This hope enables us to believe - it lends us strength - and empowers us to create change. We believe we can do the impossible. Because we believe it, we act on it. Because we act on it, we make it happen. Step by step. Brick by brick. We are making the impossible possible.

I could write dozens of reasons why I love our community, but that is my top 10.

Thank you for

Being Different

Building

Helping People

Being Patient

Believing Each Human is Valuable

Solving Problems

Encouraging One Another

Empathizing

Persevering

And Being HOPEFUL

This has been a wonderful 3 years. Thank you for being a part of our community. Id love to hear why you love 7 Cups. Please share your thoughts in this thread.