Activists not only protest but they plan, organize and request help in addressing particular wrongs. There is always a culprit or source of the injustice. The source may be a specific person, business or organization that has done an injustice to those not strong or informed enough to resist.
A child abuse advocate dedicated to her or his cause may lose sleep brainstorming ways to help free a child from an abusive environment. An education activist might forego a good football game if his mentee needs him to help him study for a math test. There are many quiet activists out there who, disgusted by the condition our society is in, have chosen to join an organization or do something in their own, in an unpublicized way.
What if the culprit is a set of circumstances: missed education, lack of love, a traumatic experience and low self-esteem? Who will be the activist fighting that fight? Who will look at this severe need then choose to ask for guidance? Create a Self Care Plan while increasing awareness around the issue they care about? The Self Care activist, is also a community member who sometimes needs help.
Activists tend to find comfort in helping others while dodging the need to address their own critical self-care needs. Helping others soothes them and feeds their need to fulfill their purpose. Unfortunately, there are limits to how many and how often you can help when you are crippled by your own boundaries. It’s time for that to stop.
If you are struggling with any kind of self-care challenge, as an activist, the fight you are dodging is one that will make a major impact on your ability to help others. It is the fight against the part of you that is avoiding your own self-care needs. You can fight for others and yourself.
Some change agents, do gooders, leaders, brave soldiers and activists fighting injustices everyday won’t fight for themselves in certain areas of their own lives. These activists fight the good fight against serious issues like genocide, environmental discrimination, self-hatred, human trafficking and corporate bullying, but shy away from the fight for their own mental, physical, social or financial health challenges.
Who will fight for your cause when your self-care habits hit rock bottom? How can those you want to help see an example of true freedom in you if you have a self-care need consistently going unaddressed? Show them that your life matters too by taking care of that life. Show them that their life matters by showing them that your life matters. When we truly are free and caring for ourselves spiritually/emotionally, economically, artistically, physically, educationally and socially, our purpose for being here and helping others magnifies beyond our comprehension. Plan to care for yourself holistically while fighting for your community and watch things change.
As a Self-Care Activist in your own life, develop a Self Care Plan based on your own personal needs. When it’s time to exhibit healthy self-care habits to community members just learning how to take care of themselves, he activist can model it. As a community activist taking care of yourself contributes to saving what’s good in the world.
Humility and self-care can exist together. In fact, maintaining a Self Care Plan requires you to consistently remain humble to that which you don’t know how to do alone. The bravest action you could take is to not allow your fear to stop you from establishing a secure foundation for your own well being while helping others. If you are drowning in an area of self-care, save yourself and become your own activist so you can be available to help save others.
Don’t give up on yourself. Be brave and adapt a self-care lifestyle so you can continue to be present and to be what’s good in this world.
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Adapted from the book: Self Care Matters A Revolutionary’s Approach by Anana Johari Harris Parris (Connect with her)