In This Issue:

• From the Director
• December Classes
• What Participants are Saying
• And Still We Rise Women of Color Leadership Forum
• Thank You to Our Funders
• Andrea’s Gazette Column: A tradition of thankfulness 

From the Director

Tired.

That’s the word I have heard from three good friends recently who are all leaders in their fields…all prominent women doing good, hard, needed work and all at the top of their game.   They are tired.

Not only are they tried, but one of these women said to me, “I am worried about my staff, each person is working very hard with burn-out nipping at their heels.”

Fatigue, burn-out, depletion.  Ask leaders, activists, directors of nonprofit organizations, and organizers how they are doing and you may well hear some form of feeling spent.

Blame it on the pandemic, blame it on the effort devoted to the midterm elections, blame it on Trump, blame it on one-disaster-after-the-next news cycles, blame it on the grinding nature of poverty, racism, and oppression in all its forms…

Whatever the reason, leaders, activists and organizers are weary.   And we need to name it and pay attention to it.

We need to increase our self-care.  Remember: self-care is not self-indulgent.   Self-care is your lifeline to being more effective in everything you do.

Activists are good at doing—we are programmed to be active, to show up, to make plans, to lead the way, and to keep on keeping on.   But we are human beings, not human doings, and doing less and resting more has huge rewards for our mental and physical health and actually for our work overall.

As New Year’s Day approaches and you are tempted to make New Year’s Resolutions, consider NOT adding another thing to your day/plans/schedule.   Give yourself permission to not commit to more visits to the gym or losing ten pounds.   Think about committing to doing less, to being lazy (which researchers tell us is good for our brain and heart), to sitting around, to being unproductive, to day dreaming and napping.   Consider finding ways to deepen your breathing and slow down your heart rate.   Unclench your fist and exhale.

I am a pastor and clergy have a saying that “ministers always preach the sermon they need to hear.”   So I am talking to you, Andrea Ayvazian.   Quit being so busy and tired.  And I am talking to you, dear Truth School extended family.   Quit being so energetic, hard-working, and industrious.

Being a mile wide and an inch deep means everything is being short-changed and fatigue is usually the by-product.

Here’s to a New Year where we let go, just a bit.  Still passionate, still engaged, and still active, but with a light in our eyes and a spring in our steps because we are continuously refilling that well inside with things that nourish us.

Here’s to a New Year that has less anguish and more joy, fewer late nights and more rest, diminished stress and more inner calm.

We are in this for the long haul.  So take good good good good care of yourselves.

With loving support,

Andrea

---

---

---

 

 

---

---

 

---

---

 

---

---

---

---

---

---