Self & Community Care Archives - Page 7 of 7

27 Mar, 2013

Is Social Media Causing Your Activist Burnout?

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T18:07:57-04:00March 27th, 2013|Categories: Self & Community Care|Tags: activism, self care|0 Comments

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There are many benefits to using social media to engage in activism: there’s no cost, it’s readily accessible to many, it’s instant, and you can get the word out about what’s happening in your community.

But what about those moments when you see something on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or other networks you participate in, and you immediate react, and not in a good way? You can feel your body begin to tense up, your breathing becomes deeper, a slight headache starts to form, and your fingers start firing off status updates or tweets.

You may believe that you’re at your activist best when this happens. You’re passionate, enraged, and ready to take action. However, while using social media can be fun, educational, and a great way to mobilize others around your cause, it can also lead to feeling overwhelmed and burned out.

I’ve had multiple conversations with activist friends, spanning a wide array of social justice causes, and they tend to share the same sentiment: They want to make their voices heard to as many people as possible, but it often comes at the price of taking the time out for self care. They feel overwhelmed because they feel pressure (directly or indirectly) to have something to say in order to show their knowledge and leadership. They feel the pressure to always be on. They also feel guilt when they want to take a break from social media, especially when something crucial is happening in their movement.

Is the use of social media affecting your ability to be not only effective in your activism, but also to be mindful of your self care? Here are 4 ways to make sure you’re still socially engaged but also keeping activist burnout at bay.

You might be thinking, “Well, I know this stuff already.”

That’s good. But are you doing it?:
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1 Aug, 2012

We’re All In This Together: Women & Girls of Color Supporting Each Other

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T17:50:53-04:00August 1st, 2012|Categories: Self & Community Care|Tags: Women of Color, Youth|0 Comments

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In my interactions with my blog readers either in person or through social media, I’m always aware that the majority of my blog readers are Black women & girls. Understandably so. It’s easier to relate to someone when you believe there’s a commonality, and in many cases that can be skin color and/or cultural background. Despite knowing this, I’ve always tried to develop content and workshops that speak to all women and girls of color, and I regularly invite other women and girls of color to contribute to my blog. On Twitter this week, I entertained the idea of shifting my focus to primarily Black women and girls and the organizations that serve them. However, a follower of mine tweeted to me: Everyone needs the message, in my humble opinion.

The focus of this blog are on things that I believe allow for others to find a commonality. For example, lawmakers creating policies that attack a woman’s bodily autonomy affects all women and girls, not just one select group (even when it feels as though that group is being targeted). Regardless of race, women and girls are constantly subjected to street harassment while in public spaces. When it comes to discussing sex and sexuality with the mother figures in our lives, women see that some of the barriers that prevented them from discussing sexuality are common across race and culture.

As women and girls of color, we need to be allies for each other. While it’s important to know what’s happening in your own community, our voices become more powerful in collective. While many of the issues that we believe we deal with may be “packaged” differently, we can’t stand on the sidelines while looking at another group and think, “I don’t have to worry about that happening in MY community”.

How can we as women and girls of color support each other? (more…)

18 Apr, 2012

Guest Post: The Revolution Starts with Me

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T17:44:47-04:00April 18th, 2012|Categories: Self & Community Care|Tags: Guest Posts, self care|0 Comments

This guest post is cross-posted from SouLar Bliss, and is written by Adaku Utah. Adaku Utah is the founder of SouLar Bliss, and is an activist, healer, teacher and performance artist committed to nurturing authentic expression within people and transformative and healing community spaces. She is a proud social justice co-consirator, committed love warrior and ever-evolving mover and shaker. Adaku has worked as the Social Change Initiatives Coordinator at the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health (ICAH), where she led ICAH in planning and implementing youth-adult partnership practices and coordinated state-wide sex education school board organizing initiatives. Currently, Adaku works with Project SAFE as a project facilitator, training and supporting youth and adults in educating and organizing around sexual health and reproductive justice issues.

Adaku & I co-facilitated a workshop called “The Revolution Starts with Me: Promoting Self-Care and Preventing Burnout” this past weekend. Check out Adaku’s awesome re-cap of the workshop, and be sure to check out SouLar Bliss for free and low-cost self care events in your area, Like Soular Bliss on Facebook, and follow Adaku on Twitter.

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This weekend Nicole Clark and I presented “The Revolution Starts With Me” at the 26th Annual Conference for Student and Community Activists: “From Abortion Rights to Social Justice” at Hampshire College. The Revolution Starts with me is a workshop that utilizes healing practices, interactive activities, storytelling, and skill-sharing, to support activists and social justice organizations in thinking more critically about the importance of prioritizing self-care. Together we explore and grapple with how we practice self-care in a world that does not prioritize our self care, how we carve space for ourselves when we’re being pulled in multiple directions, how schools, agencies, collective spaces and community organizations support us in prioritizing self-care, how we create sustainable practices that not only prevent burnout but allow self care to thrive in our lives on a consistent basis. Throughout the workshop everyone in the workshop individually and collectively share a wealth of practical recipes, remedies, rituals and resources that support short and long term self and community care.

We had a brilliant mix of 40 folks!! Here is some of what we shared with each other during the workshop. Thank you soo much to everyone that came out. What a blessing and honor it was to build community and sacred space to be and share with each other.

RECIPES

Recipe to Deal With A Toxic Boss
Remember that your emotions are equally important.
Create boundaries-as many as permitted without risking your job.
Stop trying to manage their emotions. This is not your job and you dont have to do this.
If their toxicity is more than you can bear, get out of there. Without shame or guilt.

Recipe for Grounding Yourself
When things are overwhelming and I feel emotionally overwhelming the advocacy center taught me how to ground. Focus on your breath and let yourself feel your feet grounded. Point out three or more physical things around you to let you know you’re still alive. Use sensory description when you are doing this (I see the clock is blue, I feel the soft carpet, I smell sweetness). Remind yourself of 5 positive things that have happened to you recently. Remind yourself of positivity in the future.

Recipe for Sadness: hug a puppy! If you don’t have a puppy, google puppy pictures

Recipe for Burnout: Make sure people know just how much you are doing!!

Recipe for an Over-Worked and Goal-Oriented Person
Create a longterm plan of modest goals with self care. This will provide structure and provide satisfaction in the accomplishment of the goals. Example joining a sports team creates a solid schedule for an individual to follow, and hopefully the athletics provide an enjoyable and soul-full opportunity to relieve emotional/mental exhaustion, and to help reduce long-term physical exhaustion.

Recipe for Empowerment
1 verse Lauryn Hill
1 poem Audre Lorde
1 verse Erykah Badu
1 poem Assata Shakur

Recipe for Self love-winter version :cup of tea, blankets/pillows, book/magazines/tv show (not work related), closed door, phone off ,computer off

Recipe for Self Love-summer version
comfortable clothes, go for a walk, leave phone off or at home, bring a friend (animal or human). Take 1 hr (Suggestions: stop and sit at a park bench, bring a picnic, go somewhere with nature)

Recipe for Self Care
Snuggle up with my puppy and watch lady and the tramp with a big bowl of spongebob kraft mac & cheese. Generic will not do. Also, don’t wear pants!!

Free Write Recipe
Get a piece of blank paper. Set a clock for 5 mins. Begin to write whatever comes to your mind, don’t worry about spelling errors, messy hand writing, or anything that would effect you from writing whatever comes to your mind. You don’t have to write names or anything. Whatever comes to your mind is what goes on the paper, unscripted.

Recipe Build an Altar to Your “Dark Selves”
The things that debilitate or torment you about yourself are the things to embrace, celebrate, and bring into the light. Honor all you are even the balanced dark.

7 Divine Words of Self Affirmation : I AM-Whole, Perfect, Powerful, Strong, Loving, Harmonious and Happy

Vegan Gravy and Mashed Potatoes
This is my go to comfort food to soothe my soul. I don’t use measurements sorry. Fill a pan with olive oil and one diced onion on high heat. Once it starts to simmer, add flour slowly while stirring, until it takes on a smooth but very thick consistency. Turn heat to medium low, stir and let chill. Add seasonings. I like cajun seasoned salt, rosemary & thyme, but anything will work. Transport to a pot and add vegetable broth while stirring until it takes on a consistency slightly more liquify than desired. Add veggies of choice. I like kale, corn, peans, carrots and tomatoes. Let it hang out on low heat.TATERS: Boil potatoes. Once soft, drain water. Mash with chives, soy milk, olive oil, salt and earth balance.

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3 Jan, 2012

Take Care of Yourself: 5 Ways to Make 2012 Your Healthiest Year

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T17:37:40-04:00January 3rd, 2012|Categories: Self & Community Care|Tags: Self Care Corner|0 Comments

Originally posted for The Pro-Choice Public Education Project. Revised January 2012.

Welcome to 2012! The start of a new year always brings in new goals, positive outlooks, and another chance to take another stab at those resolutions you didn’t get around to from last year.

One goal people tend to have involves taking care of themselves, and this comes in a variety of ways: starting a new weight loss/gain program, exercising your mental health by practicing meditation/mindfulness or yoga, or letting go of bad habits (this includes people).

As women and girls, we lead very busy lives these days. We go to classes, work, are active in extracurricular and social activities, and much more. We have so much going on that at times we may forget that we should also take care of the most important person to us: ourselves. When we don’t make the time to take care of ourselves, we can become reactive instead of proactive in many areas of our lives, especially when it comes to making the best decisions for our sexual and reproductive health. Here are some tips for leading a healthier lifestyle in 2012 and beyond:

Take a “personal day”

Sometimes you need to just take time off from everything you’re involved in. I personally have taken a day (or two) off from classes, the 9-5 job, volunteer commitments, and and social activities to collect my thoughts. Try scheduling a day to do something for just for you. If you can do it each week, that’s great. If you are fortunate to have even more time to set aside for yourself, try taking an hour every day to do something just for you. You can get to that book you’ve been meaning to start reading, write in a journal, listen to music that makes you feel good, take a walk, meditate, eat your favorite piece of candy, watch your favorite movie, or even take a well-deserved nap. We can become drained when we are too busy, so use your personal day to have a heart-to-heart with yourself. Consider putting away your cell phones and laptops, and limiting your use of social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter.

Treat the inside and the outside equally

It’s so easy for us to order a Big Mac and fries because it’s fast and convenient, but having a Big Mac and fries several times a week can show up on your waistline. Fast food is great, but everything comes in moderation. If you’ve never been the one to eat tons of fruit and vegetables during the day, try slowly incorporating one or two servings of fruits and vegetables in at least one of your meals throughout the day. Along with eating healthier foods, drink more water instead of soda. Also, try exercising for 20 to 30 minutes at least 3 days a week. This can include any type of sport from walking, jogging, swimming, yoga or Pilates, skating or jumping rope. If you haven’t done any exercising in a while, start off slowly. Exercise can increase your energy level, decease stress, and make you feel good. Most importantly, get enough rest at night. If you can’t seem to get in at least 7-9 hours of sleep, try going to bed one hour earlier than you normally would. Along with exercise, getting enough sleep will make you more energized and you’ll feel more alert throughout the day.

Take yourself out on a date (more…)

23 Aug, 2011

You Don’t Have to Go to Every Rally: Self Care & Activist Burnout

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T17:28:46-04:00August 23rd, 2011|Categories: Self & Community Care|Tags: activism, protests|0 Comments

When I was in graduate school for social work, my professors (particularly in my first year of grad school) told my classmates and I two things: 1) As a social worker, people will expect you to run around and put out fires and 2) you have to make time for yourself. It’s no wonder that many activists tend to be social workers themselves (or in some other profession that sounds social work-y.) When you’re working directly with populations that are marginalized and constantly being denied basic human rights, it’s hard to sit back and ponder on all of the injustices in the world and not have the urge to take action.

I’m in New York City, the biggest activist city in the world. During most weeks, you can find some sort of rally or protest going on that causes streets to be shut down, or people standing in the middle of sidewalks to ask for your signature on the latest campaign. I’ve experienced my fair share of rallies and protests in my day, and while it is exhilarating, there is more to life than fighting the good fight. The good fight isn’t so good when it costs you some peace of mind.

The most successful activist is the activist who strikes a balance between advocating for others as well as making the time to take care of self. In order to advocate for someone else, you have to be able to advocate for you first. It reminds me of safety instructions whenever you’re on a boat on preparing to take off on a flight. You’re asked to place the safety vest or the oxygen mask on you first before placing it on the other person. How can you advocate for people living in low-income neighborhoods to have health care clinics in their neighborhood when you haven’t gone to your primary care physician in over two years, or how can you fight to get better grocery stores in your neighborhood yet you spend more of your time in fast-food restaurants than walking down a grocery aisle?

The two biggest things that separate the well-off activist from the worn-down activist are self-care and burn-out. Self care is a very social justice terms that focuses on the ability to engage in this work while still being able to maintain and outlook on looking and feeling well. Burn-out, on the other hand, is when it feels as though you’ve hit a wall, literally and figuratively. You’re physically and emotionally drained, and maybe a little cranky towards the people you’re working with (and even working to help).

Here are 8 of my tried-and-true tips for preventing activist burnout and getting back to the person that matters most—You: (more…)

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