Allies In Advocacy Advisory

THRIVING IN ADVOCACY: This is the guiding light for inquiry and implementation this year and beyond – to listen, learn and understand potential antidotes, so that advocacy can continue illuminating without causing bright lights to fade. I’ve experienced first hand and vicariously how advocates fighting for freedom end up experiencing imprisonment of differing kinds, with loved ones often being imprisoned with them. Livelihood, families, and priorities outside of advocacy are inevitably impacted, resulting in chronic burnout, illness and relationship issues (to list a few). The guilt, pain, and loss it induces can make thriving feel impossible, and naïvely optimistic. But if we’re advocating for a better world, one where birthrights are honoured and freedom is universally experienced, thriving along the way is essential.

MOMENTUM: Slowing down to speed up. The momentum of advocacy can feel like a runaway train; one either willingly boarded or unknowingly consented to, until the potential ramifications of leaving make it too difficult to disembark. Depending on timelines for advocacy, action and advancement, pausing to prioritise time for self-care can feel inconceivable, especially if immediacy and continued focus on an issue is required. The idea of taking one’s attention away from a cause can induce crippling feelings of guilt, abandonment and scarcity, as though it would be in those unguarded moments that an opportunity could be missed, or something would slip through the cracks. This kind of hyper-vigilance and survival state affects the nervous system in such a way that relaxing and recovery for sustained advocacy is almost impossible. Physical and mental exhaustion soon follow, and burnout inevitable. A catch-22. A sprint and marathon happening simultaneously. But what if self-care was the very prerequisite to not only thriving in advocacy, but imperative to its progress? Slowing down to speed up can feel counterintuitive and counterproductive at first, but practicing this shift can yield incredible compounding and exponential results once experienced. What was once a conflicting marathon and sprint becomes a relay. What was once holding you back becomes what propels you forward. A win-win cycle that engenders thriving for everybody involved. Everybody. Slowing down so that you can speed up, and eventually cruise.