“Self-care is vital to sustainability” (Radd et al., 2021, p. 206). This is a motto that I strive to live by in my professional context but continues to remain a big challenge some days. It is easy to get caught up with all the responsibilities of being an equity leader and encouraging others to do the same, that we might not realize we are feeling burnt out until it is too late. I ran into this situation just last week, as an abundance of stressors had been building up for some time. I was forced to evaluate why I was feeling the way I was and what steps had to be taken in order to ensure that I would not let my negative emotions impact my teaching.
“Make a doable plan for achieving those steps, evaluate when you are done and, finally, use your evaluation to inform your next plan” (Radd et al., 2021, p. 205). For me, organization and setting short-term goals help to alleviate some of the stress but due to situations out of my control, this is not always feasible. It is in these moments when I must remind myself that worrying will not change the outcome and that if I am not taking care of myself, I will not be able to continue with equity work in a sustainable way. “You will not completely fix the problems of inequity in the span of your career or your lifetime” (Radd et al., 2021, p. 206). I attended a professional development workshop on Equity in Practice and this statement also came up. Educators wondered just how much of a difference one individual equity leader could make. Rather than being discouraged by this statement, I think it is important to remember that our heart work is making small but mighty differences.
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. - Maya Angelou
References
Radd, S. I., Generett, G. G., Gooden, M. A., & Theoharis, G. (2021). Five practices for equity-focused school leadership. Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development.
University, of Toronto, Victoria College, February 2023
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