For Social Sector Practitioners — 5 Ways To Self Care

“Struggle is the indicator of hard work and effectiveness in the development sector (aka the social sector).” — A well-meaning friend

A couple of months ago I found myself in a room with people from various civil society and social business organisations, discussing what are the primary causes of burnout and mental health problems in civil society and development practitioners. The participants discussed several challenges but I came home resonating with 2 key challenges, something I see my friends struggle with regularly and something that I have struggled with too.

Immersion in the challenges that you work to navigate

Almost every grassroots civil society or social business practitioner manages to spend quite some time on the ground, interacting with the stakeholders or is constantly aware of the various challenges that the stakeholders they work with. experience on a regular basis. They are surrounded by challenges that are beyond the scope of their work and their expertise. They often find themselves in the middle of acute decision-making crises, trying to decide between what the program design dictates and what the stakeholder might immediately need. These experiences become a part of them and it is often difficult to separate oneself from these experiences.

The work culture in civil society organisations and social business

Ironically, for a sector which works towards alleviating poverty and pain, it does little to ensure that the sectoral practitioners are taking care of themselves. Late-night emails/calls, assigning work without asking the other person, expecting people to juggle way too many things, etc are a common practice in the sector (I am guilty of many of these). This big bucket of unhealthy expectations often become a source of appreciation and the one who can navigate through all of this becomes the ideal. Although there are several short term gains behind these practices, in the long term they leave you demotivated and purposeless.

As a practitioner in this field, I see these manifest themselves far too many times. I have lived through both of them and realised the challenges that these pose not only for myself but for all the practitioners in this space.

Here are 5 things you can do to ensure you are taking care of yourself. I cannot emphasise how important this is.

1. Say ‘No’

It is absolutely okay to say NO to a request when you know that you will struggle to fit it in your already packed schedule or when you know that you will have to move something personal to accommodate this request.

Saying ‘No’ is difficult but it ensures effectiveness in your own work, ensures you are able to create harmony between your personal and professional life.

It is also important for the leaders of the movement to create a space where this is a norm and everyone feel safe to say ‘No’.

2. Take a Break

Take a break once in a while to nourish yourself and recharge your batteries, the weekends are often packed and we are not really recharging ourselves for the week ahead. So feel free to take a break, nothing is going to breakdown because of your absence, there is nothing more important than you.

Also, taking a break does not mean going on a holiday or something big, it can be a day spent reading, catching up with friends and family, just staying by yourself, going for a hike/run/walk, catching up on a Netflix series, listening to music and everything that is not part of your daily work routine. Taking a break is absolutely switching off from work for a minimum of 24 hours.

Take a day off in the next 2 weeks and try this out for yourself. You will come back energised and effective.

3. Build a self-care practice

I love listening to music, reading and having coffee. I ensure that I do at least one of these things every day, I try to do all three mostly.

Having a self-care practice which is easy and can be easily fixed inside your existing routine is important, it gives you a boost and also indicates that you actually care about yourself.

Some common self-care practices are — going for a run, exercising, playing, spending time with family, meditating, reading, listening to music, cooking, walking, etc. Share your self-care practice as a comment below.

4. Giving yourself a reward

I buy a book or get a drink for myself every time I complete something important, finish a task, successfully facilitate a partnership, lead a workshop well, etc. It is important to celebrate your accomplishments however small or large they may be, every task is important and you can acknowledge yourself for doing that. I have also observed that many of us often wait for an external acknowledgement and when that does not come across, they struggle to see the value of their own work.

By acknowledging your own work you reduce your dependency on external validation and become more self-sufficient, this is the best self-care practice that you can build for yourself.

Do something you love to do the next time you complete a task, however small or large.

5. It’s okay to cut yourself some slack

We all recognise that the work we do is important and more often than not it has the potential of creating or adding to a larger impact. The acknowledgement of the fact that we often do things that are driven by a deep sense of purpose pushes us to do things excellently, which is amazing but not at the cost of self-care. I think it is sometimes okay to cut yourself some slack, it is okay to not format a document while you are working on it, it is okay to delay a deliverable by a day once in a while (ensure you inform the other person of the delay), it is okay to be late by a few minutes once in a while, it is okay to not talk to people around you and work quietly, it is okay to not contribute to a meeting/workshop once in a while, it is okay to do things that are otherwise not part of who you aspire to be once in a while.

Cut yourself some slack, once in a while.

6. Go to the Doctor

It is absolutely important to go to a doctor if you are feeling sick, Google and your neighbourhood pharmacist are not the best places to seek a diagnosis. Go to a doctor when you feel sick or have hurt yourself or anything that requires medical intervention.

Self-medication is big no too. I recently read an article which categorically pointed out that we ruin our immune system if we do not take medicines as per standardised dosages, a little more or a little less can cause way more harm than you can even think. So please go to a doctor when you need one, do not delay.

There are several other things you can do that are brilliant self-care practices, this is just an effort to get you going and I hope you find this helpful if you have been struggling with self-care.

Self-care is important and one of the key ways you can contribute to the sector that you are passionate about. The road we have embarked upon as civil society or social business practitioners is long and we need to sustain ourselves for the long run.

Take care.

P.S. I have used a few terms very loosely, I hope you recognise the intention. Thank you for your patience.