How can you maintain resilience and self-care in social justice work?
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Social justice work can be rewarding, challenging, and exhausting. Whether you are a community organizer, activist, advocate, or ally, you may face stress, burnout, trauma, or compassion fatigue. How can you maintain resilience and self-care in social justice work? Here are some tips and strategies to help you cope and thrive.
Why are you doing social justice work? What are your goals, values, and passions? How do they align with your actions and decisions? Clarifying your purpose can help you stay focused, motivated, and authentic. It can also help you set boundaries, prioritize your tasks, and say no when needed. Write down your purpose statement and revisit it regularly.
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Marcus Madison, MSPOD
Community Relations Program Manager @ Cleveland Clinic | Compassionate community leader with transformative leadership experience in building better neighborhoods and strengthening organizational systems.
To thrive in social justice work, prioritize self-care and resilience. Below are some tips & strategies to help individuals maintain their well-being and continue making a positive impact. Set Clear Boundaries: Define when you're "off-duty" and stick to them as closely as possible. Delegate & Collaborate: Recognize that you don't have to carry the entire burden alone. Reflect & Learn: Please make it a habit to reflect on your positive and negative experiences regularly. Prioritize Self-Care: Just as you prioritize community-driven initiatives, prioritize self-care. Build a Support Network: Cultivate relationships with peers who share your passion for social justice. Celebrate Life's Moments: Take time to celebrate your achievements.
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Alhelí M. Herrera
Community Engagement Consultant
By leading an examined life. Checking in, internally and with colleagues, comrades to gauge your energy levels and mental health. Running on empty or fumes is dangerous and will not sustain you in the long haul. Because this work is a lifestyle, a proper work-life balance is a must. Self care cannot be seen as a luxury or a thing in your "to do list" that eventually you'll get to.
You are not alone in your social justice work. You need people who understand, support, and encourage you. Seek out mentors, peers, friends, family, or community members who share your vision and values. Join or create spaces where you can exchange ideas, experiences, and resources. Ask for help when you need it and offer it when you can.
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Kt McBratney
Community architect, brand builder & future ghost.
It's helpful to have different kinds of support, including those who are deep in the work as well but also those outside of it. That helps you uphold boundaries when a purpose can be so personal it could be all-consuming. I've found it valuable to have support in different relationship types — some folks much more advanced in the field, some more junior, some peers, and some within the community (with boundaries to support both sides, of course!). This helps me avoid a narrow view on what is almost always a much more complex topic, idea or issue.
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Sebastian Rocca
Social Entrepreneur. Coach. Founder and CEO at Micro Rainbow CIC
In my experience it can be lonely to head a social enterprise: naturally both clients and colleagues look at you for support. Having time (or making time) to seek support can be challenging. Often family and friends might also feel some fatigue in listening to our social mission! I suspect that other social leaders like me struggle to listen to their needs when so much needs to be done. Asking for help can be liberating. I found that having a coach can go a long way in feeling less isolated and receiving support.
You are a human being, not a machine. You have strengths and limitations, successes and failures, emotions and needs. Be kind to yourself and acknowledge your efforts and achievements. Don't judge yourself harshly or compare yourself to others. Recognize your feelings and express them in healthy ways. Forgive yourself and others for mistakes and learn from them.
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Matt Denner
Digital Fundraising Systems & Training Lead at Meadowlark Strategies
The sad truth is that you're rarely going to get the outside validation that you deserve. But if you recognize your own wins and monitor your own progress over time, you'll find much more happiness and stay in the movement longer.
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Sebastian Rocca
Social Entrepreneur. Coach. Founder and CEO at Micro Rainbow CIC
Given the nature of our work it comes natural to often focus on challenges, barriers, the work that still needs to be done. Celebrating success doesn’t often come as natural. I think it is important for our resilience to implement a culture that celebrates achievements, big and small, that is compassionate and fosters hope and positivity.
Your physical, mental, and emotional health are essential for your social justice work. You need to take care of yourself to take care of others and the causes you care about. Develop a routine that includes adequate sleep, nutrition, hydration, exercise, and relaxation. Find activities that bring you joy, creativity, and fulfillment. Seek professional help if you experience signs of distress or trauma.
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Karen Myrie
Medical Director & Attending Pediatrician; seeking Corporate Board membership
You cannot pour from an empty cup, nor an empty soul. REGULARLY taking time to retreat, rest, and relax is key. Set your boundaries and stick to them. No is a complete sentence. Do some of what you want and most of what you need to do...let the rest GO! Go for walks to get outside your office. Calendar monthly spa days or other mini-retreats. Spend time watching children just BE. It's very freeing.
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Alyson K. Myers
Associate Chair of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion/Attending Endocrinologist/Clinical Educator/Researcher
Trying to support people during these ongoing conflicts has been very difficult, especially when leadership is one-sided. To stay sane, I break away to my country house once monthly, go to the gym 3x/week and get a monthly massage.
Social justice work can be demanding and draining. You need to balance your energy between giving and receiving, doing and being, action and reflection. Monitor your energy levels and adjust your pace and intensity accordingly. Take breaks and rest when you need to recharge. Celebrate your wins and appreciate your efforts. Review your progress and challenges and learn from them.
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Myia S. Williams, PhD
Rest is so important. Sometimes my best ideas and clarity come in those moments that I take to rest. Take a day where you have nothing planned. Very often I say, doing nothing is actually doing something. I often have weekends schedule in the month where I do nothing but rest, watch tv, read, think and process. I take a moment of social media and my phone to just exist, be and reconnect. I am also mindful of what I listen and watch even on days when I do not take the breaks. It is important to drown out the noise. Most importantly, social justice work is heavy and to keep sane, you absolutely need to balance your energy, listen to your body and remember "rest is resistance"
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Emma Henkel
Professional committed to fostering justice and equity particularly in housing and healthcare.
Fighting for justice is a sort of ironic exercise in hope and mourning: hoping in change and in witness to victories along the way, mourning for the current suffering of so many. If the scale tips too far in either direction, a productive perspective is lost. Taking time to renew your hope—by leaning on your built community, simple reflection on the positive, or whatever works for you—is just as important as staying abreast of the issues and their severity. Anger and grief is fuel but so is joy and solidarity.
Social justice work can be frustrating and discouraging. You may face obstacles, setbacks, conflicts, or resistance. You may feel hopeless, angry, or disillusioned. How can you renew your inspiration and keep going? Remind yourself of your purpose and vision. Connect with your sources of motivation and passion. Seek out stories, examples, or role models of positive change and impact.
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Sebastian Rocca
Social Entrepreneur. Coach. Founder and CEO at Micro Rainbow CIC
Celebrating success and small wins can help staying connected with our mission and passion. For me, having the opportunity to speak directly with our beneficiaries regularly and hearing why the work we do is so important is also a source of hope and motivation.
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Melba Pearson
Director of Prosecution Projects at Florida International University Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy
Self care is so critical. As we approach the holidays and things slow down in terms of meetings, conferences and lobby days, take this time to reconnect with the things, activities and people that bring you joy. You deserve - and need - rest. If you don’t take the time to wind down, you will not be ready physically or emotionally when things get hectic at the top of the new year. Consider taking a midyear hiatus as well - like the summer breaks we had as kids. Rest is power. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. #TeamNoSleep does not work here.
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Hamutal Gouri
Founder and CEO, Consult4good: wisdom for social change
As an Israeli activist, organizer and facilitator, now living and working in a war zone and striving to do my best vis-a-vis a tragic humanitarian crisis, I agree we should maintain a sense of purpose, practice self care and manage our energies. But these days there are three critical driving forces: anger, compassion and hope. Anger urges me to do more and do better. Compassion helps me connect with the deep humanity inside me and in the people I meet, and hope helps me keep my eyes on future goodness.