Am I the only one that feels the constant pressure to “do” something? Like every minute of my day needs to be “productive” or else what exactly am I doing? It’s even more prevalent in the activist space. Urgent problems require immediate action. You don’t have the time to do “nothing”. Time is running out and every single second that you waste is an indictment of how little you care. Or at least that’s how it seems to me.
On top of that funding and donations are focused on similar questions, “What did you do?” “What did you achieve?” “What outcomes are a result of your efforts?”
Now don’t get me wrong I think not for profits need to have answers for those questions. You can’t just remove accountability to those who support your work. However, it further adds to the pressure of “doing” something and it better be effective.
So to please the insatiable productivity monster, some in the advocacy space move towards easy, tangible actions that we all know aren’t moving the needle too much, but they do provide the numbers to show that something was done.
It reminds me of when I played semantics with my mom when I was a little girl. She’d say, “Clean your room so I can walk around it without stepping on any clothes or toys.” Ultimately I’d part the piles like the Red Sea and make a nice walking path all around my bed and high traffic areas so that no toys or clothes would be stepped on. She was not impressed.
Similarly, people are asking us to just “do” something and we do even if we know deep down it’s not working, it’s not what is needed or is an outmoded way of organizing. We can part the piles like I did in my room without addressing the problem that doing the work was supposed to address or we can look at the chaos, the messiness of being human and the systems we’ve created and start to organize and deconstruct the mess that has been made. That seems scary, overwhelming and besides we don’t have enough time!
So I don’t blame people for sticking with the things we know and the actions that are easy to implement because there are systems, software, processes and funding all set up to validate them. And on the flip side organizing that is rooted in community, relationships, ceremony and care is vilified as not doing enough. I’d like to point out this has quite a stink of white supremacy because those values form the basis of much Indigenous and black (and other people of colour) organizing efforts. What a shame that we’ve made caring for the people, their struggles and their health as an afterthought to what they are supposed to be doing.
It’s easier to move the piles than it is to deconstruct them. I figured that out when I was six and it seems like I’m still grappling with that same lesson but now on a larger scale.
So we’ve taken some steps at SCGC to see if we can start thinking about how to address the piles and how to resist “just” doing something to take the time to figure out the better thing to do. Such as…
Adjusting our 2023 impact report to highlight our sustainability (including energy, relationships and power). You measure what you care about right?
Building out our approach to organizing as “regenerative organizing" complete with relationship-first approach and efforts to build the interdependence and resilience of our network.
We ensure our staff are supported as humans first - living wages, flex time and work from home schedules allow them to deal with life when needed without having to be “sorry” when family illnesses, emergencies and other tragedies occur.
Experimenting with action ideas that allow people at all different levels of capacity, influence, money, skills and time to find ways to get involved AND also recognizing that people flow through these stages - even the leaders.
Seeking to be in service to our network and stepping away from transactional approaches. We’ve launched a Member Services Coordinator position that is focused on building capacity for our members based on fractional staffing models that are popular within the business world.
We’ve ran our Youth Internship program for 3 years focusing on building the capacity and knowledge of youth leaders in the area with much success. Here’s one of last year’s interns, Shaantih, talking about her experience.
We continue to look for ways to build bridges while maintaining our integrity to the issues and the solutions needed. This one is a tough one.
The myth that if people aren’t doing the expected actions, then they’re doing nothing needs to be extinguished. And as times become more fraught for more and more people, we cannot ignore their human-ness. Maybe it looks like having a small gathering is doing nothing to fix climate change, but maybe connecting people to each other, having shared accountability to a community can help in ways we cannot know. And if the pressure to do something becomes overwhelming and paralyzing, then how useful is that pressure anyway?
I am hoping that 2024 becomes a year where I can finally put that pressure aside and remind myself that helping and supporting others is never the wrong choice. Learning to shine my own light in ways that make me feel connected and useful is more important than aspiring to be something else others want to see. Remembering that any time I try, I struggle and I persevere is a win even if I don’t get the outcome I thought was necessary or expected. Also, a hard thing to do.
Let’s just try to enjoy the ride, do right by one another and stop pretending we have all the answers (or at least enough of the answers to be able to shame someone else for not “doing” enough). Together, I think we can do great, unexpected, improbable things. Here’s to a new year!