Community Connection for August 25, 2022

Stuff to do…

With school back in session, we encourage you to take in all the fun activities and events available through Oakes Public Schools. If you’re new to Oakes, we want to welcome you and encourage you to get involved with the school, even if you don’t have children actually attending! There are so many opportunities to get to know people and start to make connections at school events plus, it’s always fun to show your Tornado Pride! You can find a full activity calendar on the school’s website so you never miss an event!

Things to celebrate…

If you didn’t know it, Oakes has seen quite the homecoming of lots of young people lately. Many of the houses being renovated whether to sell, rent, or open up on Airbnb or VRBO sites, are being tackled by these young people returning to live here. We’ve been saying it for a while now; we are in the middle of somewhat of a rural renaissance. With technology, there is literally nothing that can’t happen here that could happen anywhere else. It might feel new, daunting, and a little uncomfortable, but we are in an awesome position to grow because of the strong foundation of what’s been done to get us here. 

News to know…

We’ve seen a lot more people starting to put their real estate listings on the new Oakes website and we are SO appreciative of that! Most people don’t realize how often we are helping people looking to move to Oakes and when the available rentals or houses are all in one place, it makes it so much easier! There’s always been an “underground” market in Oakes—like any small town—and while we know we’ll never eliminate it totally, our goal is to make it easy for people to move here! If you have any questions about submitting your listing, contact Rebecca at Growing Small Towns or Kausha at the Chamber. It’s really super easy to do! 

Ideas to spread…

One of the hardest things about knowing that we’re responsible for our responses to difficult things is well…we then have no one to blame. It can be so tempting to blame our crappy feelings and thoughts on what’s happening to us. Think of our kids saying, “He makes me so angry!” when the siblings start fighting. No one makes us think or feel anything. It’s a tough truth but really think about it. If everything outside of us is responsible for what happens inside of us, then that also means all the solutions to a better life lie outside of us, too. That has to be the most disempowering idea ever. Yes, people will disappoint us. Difficult things will happen. It’s OK to feel whatever we feel but it’s not OK to try and convince ourselves that those feelings are anyone else’s responsibility but our own.

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