LifeCrafting -- Joy Is Essential, Rest is Resistance
You matter so much.
Along the path here in ChangeCrafting, you may have noticed the emphasis on you – a centering on the message that who and how you are in the world matter. Cultivating a deeply-rooted sense of yourself as loved and loving, as worthy and whole right now, just as you are, is an important element of ChangeCrafting. That isn’t to say that if you are hurting, or are working on growth in some aspect of your life, that this work isn’t for you. Instead, the intention in this work is to encourage ChangeCrafters to center themselves in practices and relationships that affirm and recognize deep worthiness. You don’t have to be some different version of yourself to craft healthy change. The world needs your gifts, talents, and insight right now. All you need to do is to be you…being and becoming, learning and growing.
What does "self-care" even mean?
In a consumerist culture, advertisers would have you believe self-care is baths with candles and wine. We’re encouraged to enjoy “retail therapy” or maybe to read the latest self-help book. Most people understand there’s more to actual self-care than this, but since emotional and mental health are still underdeveloped topics of public discourse, many don’t have good understandings of what self-care actually is, or how to practice it. The disparate impacts of underdeveloped mental/emotional healthcare on Black, Indigenous and people of color, people living in poverty, disabled people and many trans or LGBQ+ youth and adults are significant. We all need better understanding of how to care for ourselves spiritually, physically, emotionally and in community.
"Rest is Resistance." - Tricia Hersey, founder of The Nap Ministry
We live in troubling times. From the impacts of systemic racism, climate change, to our broken healthcare system and wealth inequality and beyond, we have justice work that can fill every hour of every day for the rest of our lives. There will always be more to do, more effort we can make, and more struggles to engage. And yet in a white hegemonic largely unfettered corporate capitalist system, the US has among the lowest amount of paid leave in the world. For people dedicated to change, these factors can combine to leave us exhausted and burnt out. As Tricia Hersey says, “
“To not rest is really being violent towards your body, to align yourself with a system that says your body doesn’t belong to you, keep working, you are simply a tool for our production…”
We are not tools for production. ChangeCrafters are vital, living creative resisters, building a better world by modeling better ways of being. “Rest is Resistance.” RESIST.
Joy Is Essential
The work of change and creating justice is a long road. It often quite literally involves life and death issues. There’s no question that we must take our work seriously, and work with conscientiousness and compassion. But even in difficult times or when working on difficult issues, it is absolutely essential that we create space in our lives for joy, creativity, laughter, and fun. The joy is in the journey, and the ChangeCrafting position is to seek joy as an essential practice of creating change. We rest. We laugh. We play. We build community. We seek joy. We change the world by practicing a new way of living and working together, centering the fullness of the human experience – balanced, creative wholeness.
You Cannot Go It Alone
Change crafting requires community. You need to find your people, and care for one another.
It’s really that simple.
And yet millions of people are more lonely than ever. In a more mobile society, people may live far away from family and childhood friends. Many find making new adult connections difficult. Relationships take time, attention, and a little bit of interpersonal magic.
But working together for change is an incredibly bonding experience, especially if you approach it as an essential place to build community. The ChangeCrafting philosophy of engagement centers human connection as essential. Read on for some ways you can craft bonding exercises into your changework.