Self-care is ESSENTIAL to sustainable changemaking. This page is dedicated to reminding you to pour into your bucket so that your impact can be sustainable.

The nonprofit sector has some of the highest levels of turnover and burn out compared to other sectors. Self care is a build your own adventure and everyone has different needs. For some, therapy is the perfect solution. For others, a glass of wine and an evening with friends once a week.

BELOW ARE RESOURCES FOR YOUR JOURNEY FINDING KIND FOR YOU….

FROM ACTIVIST HANDBOOK, “Activist Burnout: Understanding Burnout in the Context of Activism”

If you’ve struggled with burnout enough time, you may be familiar with the stages and flow of burnout. If not, familiarize yourself with the progression of fatigue and apathy below. Click into the article for suggested YouTube videos discussing activist burnout

There are 5 stages of Burnout:

  • Stage 1 - Honeymoon - Initial commitment and excitement to engage in tasks. For example, when you first start your journey in a new activism group.

  • Stage 2 - Onset of stress - common symptoms of stress start being felt, such as fatigue, lower productivity and sleep disturbances

  • Stage 3 - Chronic Stress - lack of motivation + more intense symptoms felt on a very frequent basis. At this stage, bad habits such as smoking, drinking etc may begin

  • Stage 4 - Burnout - difficulty even to cope with the minimum of daily tasks. Everything seems dull and ugly, and the person starts feeling either numb or else always overwhelmed.

  • Stage 5 - Habitual burnout - symptoms of burnout become incorporated into normal life and person experiences chronic fatigue, depression and apathy.

FROM FORBES ARTICLE, “7 Ways To Practice Radical Self-Care When Your Mental Health Is At Stake” by Bryan Robinson, Ph.D.

Bryan Robinson provided these bullets as key elements to radical self care. If you find yourself in cycles of burn out, examine these bullets and see which of these practices/philosophies you need to further embrace.

  • Radical prioritization of your own well-being—the airplane analogy with the deployed oxygen mask—over the well-being of others

  • Extreme boundary management and balance between work and life

  • Radical selection of your friends and support network (energy creators versus energy suckers)

  • Sharp awareness of emotions and triggers and ability to nip strong reactions and escalations in the bud

  • Prioritize commitment to proactive mental and physical health (mindfulness, exercise, breaks, hobbies, and eating habits)

  • Hard-nosed ability to ditch your concern of disappointing others

  • Willingness to go against popular opinion

  • Drastic ability to say no even when it’s not easy and inconvenient for someone you care about

  • Mindful awareness to choose your heart over your head when your mind says yes and your heart says no

  • Self-acceptance that it’s impossible to give one hundred percent to everything