How to bring change without burning out?

We, as people, have the capability to envision something that is not yet there. Something that is more sustainable. This is one of the most precious gifts we have as human beings. All the progress in history comes from people who imagined a better picture. How can we use this capacity as a spark that will kick start us as an action rather than a fire that will burn us out?

Burning out: what are the red flags?

When Nori was introducing the topic, she highlighted some of the red flags which place us closer to the situation of burning out. We often place our work over our well-being thereby not paying attention to our boundaries. Taking the weight of the world on our shoulders; trying to do things alone and not resting enough in the long term will make us vulnerable to this phase.

In today’s world, as our planet and humanity face problems like poverty, pandemic, pollution, racism, violence and suffering, we as human beings have two options to deal with these situations. We can either look away or face these problems! If we look away, we would be in a state of denial, emptiness thereby contributing more to the problems. If we face these problems, we might be dealing with suffering/stress but also, we would be driving ourselves towards taking responsibility and action as an Activist to make it a better world. How can we take a meaningful and constructive action to respond to these problems?

Action: taking responsibility

Action starts by taking individual responsibility of collective problems. It is about starting something new, even if we do not know where we are going. What makes it meaningful is getting a clarity on what our unique contribution to the world will be. In order to take such action for making the ideals a reality, Nori also talks about some of the pillars we can utilize and reflect upon to base our actions.

Hope for a better future

We can use our imagination to see a better future. We should believe that there is a road towards the future and we commit to that road. Negative emotions can be used as a signal about what we want for the world, but we can benefit from by not taking any action when we are in those emotions.

Be part of the solution

Being constructive means, we want to be part of the solution and that in itself is already a huge step towards being an activist. We need to put a lot of thought into what will make that better future a reality. And in that thought process, it’s not enough to just point at the people who are “doing the wrong thing” but rather work with others who want to be part of the solution.

All you need is courage

It’s easier to stay on the couch and not take action. But it takes a lot of courage to get out of our comfort zone, stand up for what we believe in and take that first step. Other people will disagree, might have an emotional reaction or try to discredit us, but all we need is courage to turn our imagination of a better world into a reality.

Being altruistic

Altruism is the unselfish concern for other people—doing things simply out of a desire to help, not because you feel obligated to out of duty, loyalty, or religious reasons. This is another significant prosocial behaviour that can lead to evolutionary benefits over time. In the session, Nori encourages us to exhibit this behaviour by contributing to something that’s bigger than ourselves. It’s not just about defending our own interest but more a conscious inclination towards the mindset “Vivre pour autrui: Live for others”.

Sharing ideals

Our ideals are unique to our imagination. Other people have different ideals and that definitely is a good thing. By sharing what we really stand for, we show others who we are.

Explore your creativity

And finally, the most crucial behaviour that we exhibit in our action is creativity. By taking action, we create something new, something that wasn’t there before. As Hannah Arendt says, “we are all a unique and new beginning”. We have to tap into our creative abilities to know what kind of action we can take.

As the session proceeds, Nori highlights some of the key gaps/driving factors towards burn out situations for activists.

Why do activists burn out?

Not seeing the impact, getting stuck in fear or anger, not having focus, not choosing the right strategy and asking too much of ourselves and also indulge activists to take a step closer to burning out. When we push ourselves too hard, we undermine not only ourselves but also everything we work for. So, it’s very important for us to resort to sources for idealism- Compassion, Hope, Empathy in order to prevent ourselves from sliding into a burnout situation.

In her concluding statements, Nori encourages us to Focus on the “Why-s” of our existence, to try and see the Impact of our role, our strategy, our ability to inspire others, the kind of change and action we foresee to create that impact and most importantly protect and respect our own boundaries.