Recharging So We Can Reimagine Our World
As a part-time educator and some-days poet, Forthright Social Media Strategist Jon Jon Moore gets it: communicating the urgent needs of children and their families requires creativity, and creativity requires replenishment. As we prepare to take a break, he’s sharing tips to clock out, tune-in, and feel good about it for goodness sake!
I’ve found that when folks quote the late Black feminist poet and educator Audre Lorde’s poignant statement on self-care, they do so partially, leaving out the most important part.
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence,” Lorde wrote in 1988 while battling cancer. “It is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” Lorde’s body was at war with her and in order to fight for a world free of apartheid, domestic violence, and misogyny (a few of the ills she dedicated her life to defeating) she recognized that self-care could not take a backseat.
We care for ourselves not only to reap the individual benefits (when I get 8 hours of sleep, my skin looks amazing!) but also to show up maximally for the people and causes we care about. The higher the stakes of our work, the more important it is that we (individually and in community) know how to sustain ourselves.
Every battle for bold transformation requires imagination, and imagination requires rest.
Our hope for the holidays is that you find time to power down your big, beautiful brain long enough to enjoy a nap by the fire and enter 2021 equipped to incorporate self-care into your daily routines. Here are a few key tips to rest better without regrets.
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Welcome Relaxation Buddies
Rest doesn’t require isolation, nor does it require strict metrics of accountability. Instead of logging back into Zoom to chat with friends after months of “AM I FROZEN?,” create a low-stakes group chat with peers, family members, or even social media acquaintances.
Research shows that frequent interactions with people whom we have weak ties to actually improve our well-being. Casual conversations bring us energy. Try turning off your notifications and checking-in at the end of the day for proof: all of you pressed pause and the world did not end.
Diversify Your Downtime
Not every brain wants to binge-watch episodes of The Crown (at least not every day) and that’s OK! As Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, author of Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less reminds us, restorative rest comes in all shapes and sizes.
If you’re not feeling television on the couch, head outside for a wintery jog or leisurely stroll: research shows walking can increase your creativity! If you’re feeling frosty, curl up by the window with a book, puzzle, or cuddly pet. Logging out of email and working on that side project you forgot about works, too! If all else fails, give yourself permission to head to bed an hour early. Don’t rank these based on what sounds or feels the most productive: do what you need in the moment.
Automate Downtime Decisions
After a year of constant decision-making, you may find yourself fresh out of decisiveness. Before drafting that cost-benefit analysis of bubble baths and gingerbread construction, consider relinquishing control of arbitrary prioritization. Write down your options, assign each a number, then roll a six-sided die (real or virtual) to determine your activity. Let the die decide and kiss your indecisive guilt trip goodbye! There are many decisions ahead that will need your recharged brain, so let yourself take a break.
It feels only right to end this message with one more nugget of wisdom from Audre Lorde, this one from her 1983 essay addressed to educators, “There Are No Hierarchies of Oppression.”
“I am trying to become the strongest person I can become to live the life I have been given and to help effect change toward a liveable future for this earth and for my children.”
Whether you’re reorganizing your closet, baking focaccia or taking that much deserved nap, feel good knowing: we’re doing it for the children, friends.
