Self-Care for the Progressive Soul:
A Conversation with Right to Shine’s Jayson Sime
Struggling for balance is a common theme in many communities. When working full-time, keeping up with your professional responsibilities while also maintaining your physical health, emotional wellbeing and other obligations can feel impossible. It isn’t uncommon for this predicament to be found in progressive political movements, where individuals dedicate themselves so fully to their work that they may forget to take time for themselves and end up feeling burnt out or unhappy.
To dig into this issue during Stress Awareness Month, I spoke with Jayson Sime, a life coach, motivational speaker and yoga teacher with an extensive background in progressive politics. During the 17 years he spent working for progressive campaigns and organizations, Jayson began to recognize how political movements’ tendency to prioritize maximum output at the expense of individual wellbeing can be detrimental and unsustainable. Now, he is working through his organization, Right to Shine, to spread the message that people in any industry can work hard and effect meaningful change while taking care of their health and happiness.
Dana Sutton: Self-care has become a trendy topic in popular culture and on social media that often focuses on “treating yourself” in ways that give you instant gratification. Do you feel that these conversations are productive, and if not, how would you change the focus?
Jayson Sime: I see self-care as something that an individual does for themselves that is good for their body, mind or spirit to give them fuel to do the things they love to do and prevents someone from going into burnout. It’s about getting over the negative thoughts and prioritizing yourself. When you prioritize yourself, you can give back in a bigger way. And I think that from the progressive movement, we lose a lot of people to the private sector because we burn them out — and we haven’t shown them another way. We’ve got people on the front lines fighting for issues that are near and dear to all of our hearts, but we’re not providing them with the understanding that to continue that long, sustainable fight, you have to have things that help fuel you. And that’s part of why I created Right to Shine.
DS: What advice do you have for progressives who may feel burnt out from the work that they’re doing to reset and figure out how to take care of themselves while still doing their jobs?
JS: I think burnout can mean different things for different people — so it could be that they are burnt out from the pure hours or because they feel like they have no time for themselves or they’re not able to spend time with their loved ones. In general, a lot of us are very good organizers in terms of scheduling and executing plans, and they need to move prioritization of themselves from “Oh, I should do this” to a must. When you pick times in scheduling, actually schedule a little time for yourself when you can do exercises, whether it be actual physical exercise or just ten minutes of doing nothing because that will help recharge you.
DS: I know that self-care is different for everyone, but what’s your go-to self-care routine or something you do when you’ve had a hard day or week?
JS: If it has been a rough week or the end of a rough day, I will take the time immediately to go move my body. Second, I’m a big fan of an inspirational quote, an inspirational video or a way to reframe what you are currently focused on. I’ve also found that it’s very effective for me to make sure at the end of the day that I have an appropriate wind-down time. I can’t just go from working from my laptop to hopping in bed and thinking I’m going to have a restful night of sleep. I have to make sure that I have a few minutes where I have no laptop — maybe I’m drinking some tea, maybe I’m reading a book, doing some gentle stretching or just having a conversation with my partner, Kate. All of those things help wind you down so that you can have more of a restful night of sleep.
DS: Is there anything else you want to add?
JS: Yeah, I always like to reframe the conversation using JFK’s quote about “Ask not what your body can do for you. Ask what you can do for your body, mind and spirit.” When we begin asking that question more often throughout the day, we’re able to come up with solutions that will then leave us fully charged to take on whatever issue, campaign, business — whatever you want to take on in the world.
To learn more about Jayson and Right to Shine, click here.
