How does your self-care benefit community care?

Jun 30

Querida Amiga,

I am writing to you from beautiful Palm Springs. It was finally time to escape my one-bedroom apartment of seclusion. I have been fairly strict about sheltering in place in order to be able to spend time with my parents on the weekends. My spirit was ready for friend time beyond my laptop screen. This week I made the drive to escape reality and live in a house with a few friends who have also been sheltering in various cities. As we wrap up our time together, I am reflecting on the symbiotic relationship between self-care and community care.

I shared in my last letter how I have been engaging with the various emotions that have been alive for me in the last few months. The practices I am returning to and adopting during this season of my life are all strategies for self-care. They soothe my mental, emotional, and physical state in order for my body and spirit to be in flow. Flow for me has been moments of peace with silence, bursts of creative energy, visions of what is possible for the future, and soul-encompassing love for friends and family who I think of often. Meditation, grounding exercises, sitting in silence, exercise, reading, journaling, and the list goes on...have all been my self-care the past few months. I knew these were practices I needed as I shelter alone. However, as I was making the drive to Palm Springs, I started to think about how my self-care routine would now co-mingle with the small friend community I was going to shelter with.

First of all, in-person hugs were a wonderful greeting. Touch is self-care that I wanted but have not engaged in. Beyond the hugs, we have reconnected while lounging in the pool or on the couch after dinner. A wide variety of topics have been discussed ranging from our personal growth at this time, what we are experiencing in our work environments or with our families related to the recent wave of resistance to the oppressive systems we engage in, and our hopes for the second half of 2020. We have each found our own ways to care for ourselves in this unprecedented time. This week was an opportunity to see how our individual reflections and growth could come together to support and engage others in our friend community.

One friend has taken up running in the last couple of months. Two of us were motivated to start running again this week because we were inspired by seeing her get up early and run before the summer heat kicked in. I am feeling energized to add running to my exercise routine when I get home. One friend is starting to lead deeper conversations at work about anti-Blackness, and this was a topic of conversation more than once throughout the week. We shared experiences, resources, and the journeys we have been on for our own growth in order to support others who are now leaning into learning. I trust that our combined self-care routines and conversations over the last week will reverberate as we travel back home, return to virtual workspaces, and we share with the communities we identify with and engage with.

The time we have each taken individually to soothe our spirit and stretch our minds has led to personal growth. What is beautiful about that work is that it is not simply to be self-serving, it is to be of service to one another. Our self-care is in constant relationship with community care. We are connected to a purpose larger than ourselves and know we need one another to maximize the impact we have.

I leave this week with new ideas for self-care and trusting that the wide network of communities we all engage with will be stronger because of the space we have provided ourselves to focus in and then serve out.

Quiero saber te ti. What have you been returning to and adopting for self-care? How is your self-care bringing your body and spirit into flow? How are the communities you identify with and engage with benefiting from your self-care?