The social justice issues in our world right now can seem overwhelming, with administrations firmly embracing white supremacy, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, and more. History has shown that activism is a way to create change—but it can also be another factor in creating overwhelm.
From struggling and stressing about what problem we should work on, to burnout from trying to work on all the problems, activism can end up feeling like a drain on our (typically already-limited) resources. This increases exponentially for those who are in marginalized communities, especially when we are trying to advocate for our own rights.
There is an option. We can leave behind war-time advice about “choosing our battles” and instead choose to engage with activism on our own terms. We can, in fact, seek to transform our activism from an energy drain into a self-care practice.
The first step to this is to understand a basic, if difficult, truth: We can never control the outcome of our activism.
It doesn’t matter if we’re trying to change the mind of a friend or trying to change the practices of a major corporation. We can choose to…