By Kendall Worth
I want to start off by giving some
background on where the title of this blog post comes from.
Many
of you — my regular readers — have probably noticed that nothing
new has been posted here since my September 11th, 2025 post: An Open
Letter as Nova Scotia Province House Gets Ready to Resume https://worthmatters.blogspot.com/2025/09/an-open-letter-as-nova-scotia.html.
As
I write this current BLOG post on October 3rd, 2025, I want to share that these past
few weeks I’ve been doing exactly what I wrote about in Sometimes
We Need to Take a Break As explained here I’ve been stepping back — rethinking, re-evaluating, and giving
myself space to reflect.
Being an advocate through
journalism for a large community of people who live in poverty, I
don’t make the decision to take a break lightly. As I explained in
one of my earlier posts, Communicating a Recent Decision https://worthmatters.blogspot.com/2024/05/communicating-recent-decision-to-my.html,
it’s always difficult to balance the need for self-care with the
urgency of my type of advocacy.
And as I reminded readers all the way
back in my very first post, Intro to For What Matters Journalism https://worthmatters.blogspot.com/2021/11/intro-to-for-what-matters-journalism.html,
my work exists because there are very few journalists covering
poverty-related issues first-hand. That remains true today.
So
even though I’ve been away for a short while, this is not the time
to shut my blog down or quit my journalism. In fact, it’s the
opposite. Here are some reasons why I need to keep going:
-
Income assistance in Nova Scotia remains far too low. The current rate is $1,005 per month — barely enough to cover rent, let alone basic living needs. Without rental subsidies, many would be in an even worse situation.
-
Food insecurity is growing. Inflation has made the struggle for affordable food even harder.
-
Homelessness in Halifax is still out of control. The crisis continues without meaningful solutions.
-
Social isolation among people in poverty is a hidden epidemic. Many feel loneliness is simply 'normal,' when in reality it’s a deep harm caused by poverty.
-
Mental health continues to suffer. Living in poverty affects well-being in ways that are often overlooked.
For more on the first voice
people I advocate for, see here: https://worthmatters.blogspot.com/search/label/first%20voice. For
more on the solutions I support, see my work on social prescribing
here: https://worthmatters.blogspot.com/search/label/social%20prescribing and here: https://worthmatters.blogspot.com/search/label/social%20prescription.
Moving
forward, I remain committed to raising awareness and amplifying the
voices of those who live this reality every day. Many are persons
with disabilities who cannot work at all, or who can only manage
part-time employment. And yet, they go to great lengths to live
enriched lives.
A major example is Carrie-Ann https://worthmatters.blogspot.com/search/label/Carrie-Ann, who showed
us how much resilience and determination it takes to build a full
life while living with disability.
So, readers, I wanted
to let you know why you haven’t seen a new post from me since
September 11th. The truth is, I’ve been taking care of personal
matters. But rest assured: more blog posts are coming soon.
In
fact — next week, watch for my Thanksgiving 2025 post!
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