Illustration by Jon Stich When I was in high school, I sat in the middle of the classroom, where the teacher wouldn't notice me. I never raised my hand. If I got called on, I would turn bright red. As I've progressed through life, I've gotten better at public speaking, but when it comes to arguing for something, I still get very nervous.

Over the years, I would sign various Sierra Club petitions pertaining to wildlife protection. I've always been passionate about the outdoors. I'm an amateur birdwatcher. In 2020, the organization put a call out for volunteers to write letters to get people voting in the general election. I thought, "I can write letters to people." My initial plan was to just do 10. I ended up writing 350.

After that, I started attending Sierra Club webinar trainings on ways to be more politically active. During one of them, the facilitator called their senator in front of everyone and left a message asking them to support legislation related to combating climate change. The talking points were right there on the screen. Having those tools and seeing somebody else do it helped push me to call my representative. Luckily, it was after hours, so I knew I was going to get the office voicemail. I also called both of my senators and left messages. It was nerve-racking, but by the third phone call, I thought, "I've got this."

The next time I got an email request to contact my Congress members, it was the middle of the day. I called Senator Dianne Feinstein's office, and somebody actually answered the phone. I could hear them taking notes as I talked about the need to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It was definitely a face-your-fear situation. I felt really good afterward.

I decided I was ready for the next step, which was to meet with my state representative, Laura Friedman, via Zoom and advocate for some wildlife legislation here in California. I had to give myself the usual pep talk: "If you really care about this, Rachel, you're going to have to fight for it. You're going to have to make your voice heard." That meeting went very well. Assemblywoman Friedman is a big advocate for the Los Angeles River, which I live right next to.

In September, I helped arrange a group meeting with one of Senator Feinstein's staffers about voting rights legislation, because I've come to see how much all the stuff I care about is connected to being able to make our voices heard. We wanted to push the senator to more actively support the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

One of my big fears about contacting members of Congress is not fully understanding how the legislative process works. I try to keep in mind that our elected representatives all the way up to President Biden himself are here to serve us, the people who put them in office. I don't need to be an expert on the process. I can just tell them how I feel about certain issues. If I'm worried about voting rights, I don't need to know what committee the legislation is sitting in. I just need to let my representatives know that I think everybody should have the right to vote in this country.

Each time I take a new step, I feel more confident about what I'm doing. And I feel less worried about the reaction I'm going to get from whomever I'm meeting with. Interacting with my representatives has given me the courage to do other things that have scared me. I feel more confident overall in how I live my life because I have done this work.