What I’ve learnt about advocacy work from my running app...
“It’s not about speed, it’s about endurance,”she reminds me as I find myself flagging half way through the run.A little voice in my ear,the steady&reliable lady on my app,reminding me,“One foot in front of the other”
1/
“It’s not about speed, it’s about endurance,”she reminds me as I find myself flagging half way through the run.A little voice in my ear,the steady&reliable lady on my app,reminding me,“One foot in front of the other”
1/
I keep going. This non-runner, trying time remember how far I’ve come from week 1 till now.
I think about how much work there is still left to do with regard to anti-oppression, anti-racism, the intersectionality of race and gender, and my head begins to swim.
2/
I think about how much work there is still left to do with regard to anti-oppression, anti-racism, the intersectionality of race and gender, and my head begins to swim.
2/
The little “to-do lists” are popping up in my mind. Pinging at me and stinging my conscious.
“You’re not doing enough, not working hard enough,”
And then my trusted running coach again, in my ear,
“Remember how hard you’ve worked, keep running. Slow down. Just don’t stop.”
3/
“You’re not doing enough, not working hard enough,”
And then my trusted running coach again, in my ear,
“Remember how hard you’ve worked, keep running. Slow down. Just don’t stop.”
3/
Yes. Yes. Keep going. Slow down. Just. Don’t. Stop.
For those of us that have been engaging in this work for a long time, those of us who feel at once buoyed and also cynical with the regard to the “statements” and “interest” from those that have previously silenced us
4/
For those of us that have been engaging in this work for a long time, those of us who feel at once buoyed and also cynical with the regard to the “statements” and “interest” from those that have previously silenced us
4/
or ignored our proposals, our pleas, and our offers to work even harder, for those of us that know this is absolutely a marathon and not a sprint, I want to remind us to keep going, and also to rest.
“Take a day of rest tomorrow before your next run,” says my app lady.
5/
“Take a day of rest tomorrow before your next run,” says my app lady.
5/
Ah yes. Rest. That’s important too.
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare," Audre Lorde.
So today I rest. I look at the tiny yellow flowers on my tomato plants, that with a little bit of nurture and
6/
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare," Audre Lorde.
So today I rest. I look at the tiny yellow flowers on my tomato plants, that with a little bit of nurture and
6/
a little bit of luck, will yield blood red fruit. I lie without guilt on the couch while my kids play outside with their Dad, and close my eyes. I drink tea and eat a piece of proper British chocolate. I read about the stories of people displaced and what home really means
7/
7/
I think about my own writing and how I might give it some time and some love. And I think about how tomorrow. Yes tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that, I’ll keep working and speaking and advocating and acting, for change.
What are you doing to rest today?
8/
What are you doing to rest today?
8/
