Sustainable Care for a Greater World
We live in a world where self-reliance is highly valued. Where helping others is praised, but accepting help is often looked down upon. But we also live in times where the need for supporting one another is more obvious than ever. Support from others is crucial to allowing for a thriving self and community. Movements like Black Lives Matter need support from all kinds of people in order to make lasting change towards a better and more equal world. COVID-19 can only be managed if entire communities act accordingly, looking out for the greater good and not just oneself.
Caring for your community and the bigger world can fill your cup. Volunteering, reaching out to others, protesting, writing letters and articles — all activities that can be recharging and energizing. But, they can also be emotionally draining. Continuously thinking about the amount of hate or the numbers of sick people in the world can be worrying and exhausting.
Yes, only from a place of privilege can one suggest rest and self-care when these issues become too much. Not everyone has the ability or space to fully separate themselves from the situations and causes that they are fighting for or through. But in order to be the best long-term advocate, ally, community member, or citizen, we all need breaks and to be well in ourselves. Those might be small breaks — 5 minute daily meditations — we all can make time for that. Small acts — wearing a mask despite one own’s presumed healthiness. They might be longer-term works — reading and listening to the plethora of Black voices that can rejuvenate our spirits and teach us about the BLM cause.
Making space for our own care in the midst of serving our communities also means lifting others up. No one person or group can or should be solely responsible for keeping our spaces and society safe and moving in a positive direction. If you know that there are others who can fill your shoes when you need to take a break for your own self-care, you would be more willing to step away to do so. We need to be proactive in engaging others so we can ask for help and support ourselves along the way.
Resources to support BLM:
If you are looking to educate yourself and gain information, visit the Black Lives Matter website directly. This link will bring you to a video series, “What Matters",” that shares interviews with some incredible individuals.
If you are in a position to donate monetarily, you might consider donating to the National Bail Fund Network via Community Justice Exchange.
If you want to contact your government representatives to share your views, you can find contact information here.
If you are in the market for diverse reading materials, look into shopping smaller, Black-owned bookstores via bookshop.org.
Resources to support self-care:
In the midst of this changing world, we are trying our best to adapt at Hallelujah Farm. We’ve been considering ways to share our space and its energy with visitors in a safe and healthy way. It seems that longer-term, self-quarantined groups are the best option for the time being. If participants isolate before coming, we can do our best to ensure a safe environment. We would love to support groups focused on self and community care. If you have a community-oriented retreat group that would be interested in the potential of joining us at Hallelujah Farm Retreat Center, please contact us as admin@hallelujahfarmretreat.com. We would love to talk with you about your group’s goals to see if we would be a good fit for each other!
