9. 9 steps to long term self-care for climate activists
I have been a climate activist for 12 years. Activism is gruelling work sometimes, and none less so than climate activism. It is not your fault if you feel worn out, beaten down, but probably you are the only one who can do something about it. Here are the things that keep me going, I hope it can help you too.
- Love the fight, and don’t focus too much on results
When I was 15 I had a friend who was deeply passionate about every progressive issue. I asked him why he didn’t do anything about these issues, like activism, fundraising, getting involved politically. “What would be the point?” He said, “I can’t change anything.”
“You are missing the point,” I thought, “the point of fighting is not to win, it is to fight.”
At one point I was lying in bed, feeling like the entire future depended on me, and that I was utterly inadequate for this task. Then I reminded myself that I was not the perfect person to fight this issue, no one is. Even if I was smarter, older, richer, more influential, I would notbe sure to win.
Results are great, but they are not guaranteed. There is no guarantee that we will succeed (however failure is guaranteed if we don’t try). Celebrate successes and victories, no matter how small, but don’t base your well-being on achieving success. Failures will occur, and you need to move past them. Fight because you love it, fight because it is the right thing to do.
2. Give yourself space to feel sorrow, anger and hopelessness
The mental strain of battling against the end of the world is tough. It is natural to feel anger, sorrow and hopelessness at the destruction of irreplacable natural treasures and the prospect of millions of people dying. Some people deal with this by avoiding the news, putting it out of their mind. Some people repress it. Some people become bitter. None of these are healthy ways to deal with these feelings.
Instead handle it like a breakup. Let yourself feel these feelings. Take time out to feel them. Don’t freak out at their immensity or intensity. Then when time is up, do something nice for yourself. A nice meal, a hot bath, a good movie. And then get on with your work.
3. Have healthy habits for your mind and body
I used to struggle a lot with anger. I would ruminate over my anger turning it into bitterness. So I read a book about anger, and its main take-away was: Exercise.
Treating your body well; sleeping 8 hours a night, drinking plenty of water, eating a healthy diet of mainly fruits and vegetables, exercising 3–5 times a week for 30 min. This will help regulate your emotions, and boost your levels of energy more than anything.
And don't skimp on mental health. Go see a therapist when you need it. Cultivate strong and loving relationships with other people and with yourself.
4. Do tasks that you enjoy, limit tasks that you don’t enjoy
It is easier to love the fight, if you love the work you do. If you are slaving away at tasks you do not enjoy, you will wear away at your motivation and happiness.
Even though you might feel that the world will end if you don’t do a particular task, trust me it won’t, bit you will wear yourself out. Find ways to minimize or delegate tasks that you dislike. Find the tasks that you really enjoy and prioritize time to do them.
Basically, Marie Kondo your tasks. Ask yourself “does it spark joy?” before committing yourself to a task.
5. Find the right people and build good relationships with them
You cannot go this road alone. Get involved in or create a community around your activism. Find people you click with.
6. Don’t let people have undue influence on your tasks if they are not working on them
In volunteer work, people should have influence on a project or task you are doing if a) they also put work into it, b) if they supply you with a valuable resource, like money, c) it affects their work, or d) if you invite them to.
Otherwise, you will end up feeling like you are working on fulfilling their ideas and dreams while they do nothing. It is a recipe for conflict. The best way to avoid this scenario is to talk it out.
7. Set healthy boundaries. Choose when to give 100%.
It is impossible to give a 100% a 100% of the time. I have experienced a lot of misery, because I did not accept this as a fact. I would make plans that did not take this into account, and I would be disappointed with myself when I fell below my own expectations from either lack of motivation or lack of energy. It is a major source of stress.
Plan with buffer time, so if fall behind you have time to catch up. Plan with contingencies, so you know what to do if something goes wrong or you get sick. Learn to say no to tasks that you do not enjoy, that are not your priority or that are not realistically feasible with the ressources you have.
You never know when you will get sick or when your energy level or body or mind isnt up to the task. So when it happens, don’t fret, don’t beat yourself up. Just give your body and mine the time it needs to recharge.
Also, prioritize which tasks are important enough to warrant 100%. Not every single meeting, poster, email, event etc. needs to be perfect or look professional. Unless it is a task you love or a really important task, figure out the lowest level of effort required and do it at that level. Reusing old work as a template is also a good tip for saving energy and time.
8. Practice short-term self care
Short term self care is when you take a break out to care for yourself. That is something you should do when you are worn out, and also something you should do on a regular basis to give yourself energy.
What that looks like depends on you. It could be watching a movie, making a treat meal for yourself, sleeping in, yoga, a hot shower. The thing to remember is that short term self care takes practice. In the beginning your body and mind will not relax right away. You might feel guilty for all the things “you should be doing” while caring for yourself. Keep at it and make it a habit.
9. “Ok Boomer”
There will be haters. There will also be a thousand opinions on how you should do your activism, and what tone or message you should use. And most of these people have no idea what they are talking about.
One of the smartest people I know said that he doesn’t know the right approach to get society to tackle climate change effectively. If we knew for sure we would already have fixed this issue and we wouldn’t be in this shit.
So do you your thing and tell all them people; “Ok boomer”.