Welcome to Firedoglake!

Hillary, Welcome to the Lake.

Joe, Thank you for Hosting today’s Book Salon.

Hi, Hillary here!

Hello FDL folks!

Share your thoughts. Ask Hillary questions. Jump into the fray. I’m looking forward to the conversation.

- Joe

Hillary,

I’d love it if you could share with everyone a bit of your motivation for writing this book. How is it that you came to the topic of burnout and the need for better approaches to help activists stay in it for the long haul?

To support Joe’s excellent introduction – thank you, Joe! – here is a quote from Todd Gitlin’s Letter to a Young Activist:

“I knew hundreds of New Leftists, but in the course of a decade I don’t think I encountered more than half a dozen who had the personalities for strong political careers—the patience, self-sacrifice, willingness to calculate what is winnable, toleration of small talk, interest in people, capacity to size up people’s strengths and weaknesses and to make deals. New Leftists were undisciplined, unruly, talky, frequently narcissistic, ambivalent about politics in the first place. For myself, I would rather have written poetry than knocked on doors in poor neighborhoods.”

As I point out in The Lifelong Activist, the above qualities are best (or, for many people, only) obtained in the course of living a life rich with experiences and diversity – a balanced life, in other words. So if the goal is to achieve heroism, sacrificing your entire existence on the altar of your cause may not be the right path.

I wrote it in 2004 and 2005. I was actually writing a different book for artists, but the political situation back then was so awful (i.e., Bush) that I felt I wanted to do anything I could to help the progressive cause. Following my own advice – to locate your most valuable skill and focus on it – I decided to write a book that would empower progressive activists and help them lead happier, healthier and more productive lives.

Have you experienced a lot of heroic sacrificers in your coaching work with activists through the years? How common is this phenomenon?

Good afternoon Hillary and Joe and welcome to FDL.

Hillary, I have not had a chance to read your book but from the intro, I think I understand somewhat where you’re coming from. I have sporadically over the years gone in and out of activism and political activity. It is quite easy to get burned out just because one gets tired of pounding one’s head against the walls without seeing much visible progress.

This is also a topic that is very meaningful to me personally. Up until age 40 I had an interesting and diverse career, but with no notable successes. At 40 I became a business coach in a nonprofit microenterprise program and discovered that I was really good at it. I also got to see, up close, why talented and dedicated people fail to achieve their goals, and learned that the reason is often a lack of mission, time and fear management. So that is where I’ve focused my professional life ever since – and by the way all the skills in the book are things that I myself have had to learn and am still learning.

I meet people suffering from the heroic sacrifice delusion **all the time.*** It is a species of perfectionism, really, and loads of people in and out of activism suffer from that. Besides the point you mention in your intro – a romanticized view of activism – I find that many younger people don’t understand how much progress we really have made in just a half-century. The show Mad Men, with its rampant discrimination, is not far off the mark! Saul Alinksy, Todd Gitlin and many others say the first requirement for an activist is an objective vision, and looking at just the negative part of the picture isn’t objective.

I hear you about the internal resistance that comes with feeling stuck in a rut. This is a commonplace experience for many progressives. One thing Hillary describes in her book is how we can broaden our thinking about what it means to be an activist. If we live our values in our lives, the tension between work and activism starts to ease (and can go away entirely if we prioritize and plan effectively).

Hi Dakine – thanks for joining in. See my prior comment to Joe. I feel there has been significant progress made, although obviously there is so much more to be done. Also, in last week’s book salon, Matthew Kerbel made an important point that the Internet and other digital technologies – are inherently democratic and power-sharing. I think the Right knows this and that’s why they are so particularly freaked out these days. THEY see the progress we’re making, and so we get to watch privilege rising to defend itself.

How do you avoid burnout? I run a regional election monitoring program. Each cycle it gets harder and harder to psyche myself up. This cycle, it was an act of shear willpower to make myself do it.
Yet I truly believe that it is important and valuable work and that protecting the rights of voters and the integrity of the election process is really important.

I’ve just gotten to the point where I feel like it is sucking the life out of me. I get tired everytime I think about it or somebody from the organization calls me. But to walk away after having worked so hard to build up a viable and efficient organization seems nihilistic

And I’m pretty sure the Net is what has brought a lot of folks back into political activism. So many of us especially who have been stuck in red to purplish states and areas were looking for a way to find at least somewhat like minded people and lo and behold, there was a whole wide world out there available to us.

Joe, exactly. Every activist movement is an ecosystem – right? You need “extremists” (not what the traditional media calls extremists, but real ones) and you need moderates. You need people to write letters, people to donate cash, people to do demonstrations, people to organize campaigns, people to reach out to various communities, etc. So people should begin by doing the activism they are comfortable doing (amount and type), and then see what happens. Adam Hochschild’s Bury the Chains, about the British abolitionist movement, provides an excellent historical example of how all kinds of people can participate and support each other in creating monumental social change.

The alternative, frequently, is deprivation. Few of us can be effective when deprived, and particularly for long periods of time. I sometimes meet activists who implicitly or explicitly say they wish they were robots who needed only to work – but they’re not, so best to admit that and work from reality.

That’s pretty true in a lot of cases, but not all cases.

For instance on the green side, have been composting/gardening/recycling for years, and have melded that into lifestyle quite easily. Same thing with driving – a 2 person family with one car for over ten years now, and miles driven are about 9k per year, much under the national average. These sorts of activity componenets of activism break down to “putting your lifestyle where your moth is.

However, when it comes to other issues, like Marriage Equality, there’s a different story. You only have so many cycles in which there is opportunity for activism.

Hillary explores this very challenge in the section about Managing Your Mission (which has you look at your life goals in the context of creating a clear vision and mission to achieve it).

Go through the iterative process of (a) creating a life mission, (b) implementing it, and see modifying it as you go along. This will help you think through what you care most about and will help you assess this kind of difficult choice with greater clarity and focus.

Boy is this topic timely. I realize that I fall into this all or sell out thinking of the heroic sacrificers.

What is frustrating is when I’ve approached some of the groups that might be able to use my skills they don’t know what to do with me because I don’t fit into their box. This then fits into my mind set that the place that I could go to be paid as an activist doesn’t want me. So I go it alone.

I’ve been appreciating Jane’s comments on the Veal Pen lately.

I realize that I’ve been jealous of the right wing think tanks, they hire extreme bloodthirsty “analysts” and that’s fine. I figure out a way to hit right wing media in the pocketbook and I’m too aggressive for liberal think tanks.
I’ve recently approached a couple of groups with aggressive media strategies that would be right up their allies but they backed away because they don’t want to suffer the fate of Van Jones and ACORN. I don’t blame them, but on the other hand I can prove that I’ve been very effective with my strategies and techniques. Mike Stark and I were talking about this last year about the fear of some progressive groups to support the people at the tip of the spear.

First, Cynthia, thank you for the very important work you are doing. Regional electoral monitoring – you really are on the front lines. Burnout comes from deprivation, and more specifically from living a life in conflict with your values and needs.

I would first find MENTORS. Mentors are so important – most people in this culture are seriously undermentored. By mentor I mean someone who is doing what you would like to do – in this case sustainable activism – and seems happy and healthy and productive doing it. Get their advice and help.

My guess is your mentor would counsel occasionally taking a sabbatical – to recharge the batteries.

He or she could also help you figure out how to build an organization which can run without your central and constant involvement.

And in the meantime, just devoting more time and attention to self-care if you need to do that.

Hi Kelly,

Marriage equality is an interesting one to think about because it is so profoundly cultural in its focus. One problematic thing I’ve noticed about the way progressives approach this topic is that they tend to narrow their activism to the workings of election cycles (essentially framing the issue as a competition that ends with either a winner or a loser depending on how the votes fall).

In truth, we have come a long way as a society towards acceptance and tolerance of homosexuals. This is a cultural phenomenon that eventually influences legislation.

I see burnout happening here because so much emphasis is placed on elections, when the real work needs to be done in the culture at large… by promoting clear progressive values around basic human dignity, taking the responsibility of devotion in committed relationships seriously, and celebrating these things throughout our culture at large.

If we focus on the “final heat” of a relay to “get ahead” in the votes, we miss that this is where the real action is. And we are making progress in this arena.

What is frustrating is when I’ve approached some of the groups that might be able to use my skills they don’t know what to do with me because I don’t fit into their box.

That would be discouraging, esp. considering how effective I know you are. I’d like to discuss with you after the salon because I might be able to help you link up with some groups.

Cool.

The challenge for progressives to create alliances is an important part of our burnout. We need to support each other in our respective efforts so we don’t feel so much like each of us has to “go it alone.”

In some ways this problem is systemic (as I’ve written about with regards to philanthropy), but it is made worse by our thinking about ourselves in isolation from the progressive community.

In another comment above, Hillary expressed the importance of finding mentors. This is a great idea for many reasons, one being that we find others to remind us that we’re not alone.

[big fan of spocko!]

This cycle, it was na act of shear willpower to make myself do it.

Boy do I hear that. I sometimes wonder how the right wing keeps up the crazy hate. For some reason the thrive on it, it appears to energize them. Talk Radio after Obama? Pigs in heaven! “Ohh it’s like Clinton all over again!”

There’s a passel of us in the great out there and also here at FDL who are people of a certain age. Some describe themselves as coming out of the DFH mode. Others of us later to activism. It is so easy to burn bright and then go down in flames after intense involvement. You already know that, and speak to it.

I suspect there’s a guilt element for some of the sages among us. Did I do enough? Did I quit too soon? Am I too late and/or too peripheral to matter now? We are post-career, by and large, have raised our families and have less energy (but at least as much passion) as before.

I am not seeing a significant elder-movement a la Gray Panthers. Are we as a group too burned out to rekindle ourselves, do you think? Just musing.

Joe – I have a question for you which also pertains to Spocko’s situation. What do you feel is going on when activists are reticent about promoting their viewpoint in full force and full clarity. Richard Stallman, founder of the free software movement, says one of his major challenges is getting people to admit that they value freedom. (They’ll talk about FLOSS software’s benefits of cheapness, easy operation, etc.) I see this dynamic in other movements, too – people sometimes dance around the central issue instead of just stating things plainly.

Do you think this is simply internalized oppression, or is there something else going on?

hate is easier than love, I think, especially when your background conditions you for it. and let’s not underestimate the impact of mega corporate $ in enabling hate. but this question, too, pertains to the internalized oppression question.

Partly they respond to hate with such persistent intensity because of what David Neiwert (of Crooks & Liars) calls the “eliminationist” mindset… meaning they feel an existential threat from those who oppose them and are willing to eliminate all of their opposition (sometimes with violence like the Oklahoma City bombing) to achieve their self-righteous goals.

Also, if you keep people perpetually in fear they remain reactive and easy to agitate. Things don’t work so well for us progressives because we need people to feel compassion toward their fellow human and fear gets in the way of this.

O, I am certainly aware of that. I’ve been out for 30 years now, and in the same relationship for going on 11.

Was in local ACT-UP chapters in the late ’80s-early-’90s, then mellowed out in the mid-’90s till 2002.

So I’ve been “living” it for quite some time. I take a certain pride the results so far too, I don’t mind saying.

But I do think from time to time you have to spike the Overton Window, and kick it up a notch, especially around election cycles when equality issues present themselves on ballots.

These days, I fall into the workaday camp, supporting the issue when presented (knock on doors when there’s a ballot issue) rather than going that visionary route and starting the ballot initiative.

Thanks. Just a note about how Kelly helped me recently and how great that felt. Because of her Google Fu I was able to get some tough financial and ethical questions in front of News Corp financial analysts. I’m also priming the people at Color of Change to press the issue. But as a friend of mine who works at a non-profit said, “The democrats take our work for granted, that we will just burn out our best people FOR FREE. And if we ask to pay them a living wage we are seen as greedy. There for we end up with a group of “saints and crazies” doing the work.”

I also noted that usually both the saints and crazies needed a third party to support them in their cause.

Barbara, activists simply do not give themselves enough credit. It is incredibly hard work on many levels. Many people go through their lives strenuously avoiding any questioning of the status quo, whereas activists do that over and over again – and then act on their convictions. any form of activism is heroic, in one sense, and all activists should be celebrated. there are very few activities as challenging – emotionally, financially, strategically, etc. – as activism.

I really do recommend keeping the long view – it’s a more valid perspective. Here’s my idol George Eliot, in the famous finale of Middlemarch:

H

er full nature, like that river of which Cyrus broke the strength, spent itself in channels which had no great name on the earth. But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.

There is a LOT more going on with this phenomenon. I’ll only hit on one element, which is the rationalist tradition that provides the philosophical foundation most of us were indoctrinated into through our education.

We were taught that objectivity is of central importance, so our personal values are seen as a form of “bias” to be minimized. We were also taught that reasoning is contaminated by emotions so our feelings should be separated from our analysis. Both of these ideals are (1) impossible to achieve in practice because of our true biological nature as moral, emotional beings and (2) actually destructive because they conceal our true motivations (the moral systems we operate in) that drove us to objectivity in the first place.

Only when we understand better what real human nature is and unlearn these faulty ideas will we see progressives start to speak with moral clarity and power.

Wow! Thanks for that.

Along with avoiding burn out–how should one maintain inspiration, especially in the face of setbacks?

Spocko – i think it’s a major problem when organizations expect activists to work full-time (or more) for free or a poverty wage. I understand the financial motivations for doing so, and the need is obviously more acute in this economy, but it’s a recipe for individual burnout and it compromises the organization’s own mission. This doesn’t even count the many supposedly progressive organizations that mistreat and abuse their workers (paid or volunteer) in other ways. i would rather see activists get non-activist jobs and do activism p/t then to work f/t for an abusive or exploitive organization, no matter how noble its mission.

Agreed! 100% on the mark!

I’m interested in Joe’s thoughts on this too.
I recently approached a group with some ideas on how to get their story (anti-torture from a religious point of view) into the mainstream media.

The tactics involved challenging a popular right wing radio host on a moral issue using his religious background to back him into a corner. It would use currently available audio, but would require someone to articulate their group’s views. I’m confident that the story could get national coverage and even international play. But they didn’t want to go there. Why? Several reasons one of which they didn’t want to upset their donors by being too confrontational. I explained that the X. v. Y story is just about the only story that is being written these days and if you want to be in the game you need to set it up or you will be on the other side of the story.

Still no interest. And I started to think about how much power the money people have in controlling the assertiveness of groups.
Then of course I wanted to see how we could flip that and force the right wing groups to fear losing money if they were too extreme (but of course that’s hard to find.)

A quick side note about the Overton Window. It only works when frame mechanics and value-systems are accounted for. I’ve written a three-part series about this here.

Basically, people only come over to “our side” at the level of values and moral identity. Merely expressing a more extreme view on an issue will not work (and can backfire!) if it doesn’t normalize the progressive values that make sense of the issue from our perspective.

Lisa – that is a FANTASTIC question. I will rephrase it slightly and say, how does one maintain a connection with one goals. I’ve spoken to Richard Stallman about this very question. I think the answer lies in authenticity – making sure your situation allies with your goals and values. That you are working on the cause you really want to be working on, and with people you really want to be working with. If not, make that change.

And then look at your situation: maybe you’ve outgrown your current form of activism, and need something more challenging or simply different. Make sure your activist duties correlate with things you enjoy doing and are good at (usually the same things), and don’t settle for second best. Time management helps here – it teaches you to be ruthless about clearing out your schedule so you can focus on the truly important and energizing.

Finally, my earlier point about intensive self care – “to those from whom much is expected, much must be given” – and occasional sabbaticals is valid.

Joe – that’s amazing stuff, and I look forward to learning more about that. (And I will send it to the FLOSS people.)

A major system-level challenge we face is that many of our most powerful non-profits are too dependent upon their donor base to be effective. Because they don’t get large block grants (what conservative donors do for their organizations), our non-profits become risk averse when their revenues may be threatened if they upset some of their members.

Part of the necessary change is a shift in philanthropic philosophy and revenue models for non-profits. Another is building media and communication firms that are better equipped to do renegade marketing.

These system-level changes aside, your idea to engage religious groups to counter the religious right is spot on. Partly it’s a matter of getting more progressives with clout (whether through access to money, people, or large member bases) to go strongly on the offensive with our values. One way I’m working with clients to do this is helping them see a clear moral vision that they share with other organizations who are natural allies at the deep level of moral worldview.

A tough sell so far, but we’re gaining ground.

You know one thing that I wish would happen was for a few activists to team up with a few good lawyers to fund their organizations.

This is something that the Southern Poverty law center does. Right now Glenn Beck is targeting and picking off Obama appointees and associates like McCarthy. That’s just not right. He is being protected like a journalist with Fox as a newspaper. I think that a progressive group should get behind one of Beck’s targets and file a massive defamation suit. (Think Carol Burnett and National Enquirer). This would require the right person and the right group, but the funds from a successful lawsuit would help keep the group in business. And I’m sure that there are lots of groups that do this, but what I often here are all the reasons NOT to do this and why this WON’T work. My response is, “Can we look for a case where it WILL work?”

About setbacks: we anticipate them and we keep our perspective realistic and we support each other through them. It is very important that we surround ourselves with supportive, growth-oriented, compassionate people, and avoid the latter, no matter how smart, noble, or otherwise virtuous. Those latter people undermine us,

And we keep the long view – MLK’s view that the arc of justice is long but bends toward justice.

And we avoid the trap of deprivation, or subordinating our personal needs and lives to activism. (To be clear, for some people, spending 70 hours a week on activism is okay and appropriate; but for most people it wouldn’t be.)

btw, I myself have been guilty of getting too much information from the progressive blogs and therefore being “blindsided” on election nights. So for myself I’ve learned to take in a broader range of information.

Awesome! thanks!

, “your idea to engage religious groups to counter the religious right is spot on. “

You would probably not be surprised by the groups and individuals who turned me down. I kept thinking, “Surely they don’t have a problem of standing up against TORTURE. What could be wrong with that?” But I guess I didn’t count on the not wanting to rock the boat with the right wing media.

I asked them all at the end of the calls, “Well who would be a good candidate to do this?” They gave me some of the people I had already talked to who said no. :-(

I like your idea of renegade marketing firms.

Hillary,

One thing that struck me in your book as being rather important (and possibly controversial to the reader) is your emphasis on time management to help align people’s practices with their values, priorities, and goals.

Could you talk a bit about why you think time management is important and how you approach it?

so the question of burnout is really quite simple: a misalignment between actions and needs. the cure is authenticity, which is harder than it seems. don’t let anyone guilt or shame you into giving more or differently than you can. If you accept your own needs and limitations, you will build a strong base to grow from, and have the potential to be more effective than you can even imagine.

then you use time management to create a schedule that lets you live your mission.

then you work on coping with your fears (totally understandable) and perfectionism so you can follow the schedule without procrastinating.

the above topics comprise the first three sections of The Lifelong Activist. Anyone who visits http://www.lifelongactivist.com/downloads can download a free copy of the section of the book on overcoming fears and procrastination and perfectionism, and that will probably help.

I want to emphasize that ANYONE doing activism is to be cherished and applauded no matter how limited it is. to say otherwise is perfectionism. I also want to emphasize that living a life of authenticity and integrity and responsibility is an activist act in a society that often seems to do everything it can to undermine those qualities.

I’m starting to work with organizations who want to form alliances with renegade marketers and media firms with the desire to engage in this realm of activity. It’s a very exciting area to explore… and I anticipate some really cool partnerships in the future.

time management is a key – maybe the key – skill separating successful from unsuccessful people in any field. how you spend your time determines the content and arc and quality of your life. in workshops I discuss the famous Good Samaritan study, which shows definitively how our functioning (logistical AND moral) degrades when we’re rushed or otherwise not in control of our time.

I love how you keep saying that all activism should be celebrated and encouraged. We tend to spend too much time criticizing where we have yet to go and not enough time celebrating all that we do.

(And seeing our good side helps us understand how we succeed when we do!)

Why do you think it is that progressives have not paid more attention to this important skill set?

I also talk about 5 foundation principles of time management:

offer these five foundational principles for it:

1) time is the most valuable resource
2) strive to invest time, not spend it
3) the things you invest time in are the things you’ll improve at or make progress on; the things you don’t are the things you won’t. (so, for instance, if you spend time helping everyone else with their mission, you will get better at that, as opposed to taking care of your own needs)
4) the purpose of time management is NOT to stuff as much as possible into your schedule but to eliminate as much as possible from it, so you can get the important stuff done to a high degree of quality and with as low stress as possible.
5) there is no such thing as unmanaged time; if you don’t manage your time others will be happy to manage it for you.

One particular time management topic I talk about with activists is overgiving. We tend to be the go-to persons not just in our organizations, but our families and elsewhere. Our big problem is not selfishness, as it is with many other people, but overgiving – a prime cause of burnout.

It is important to make conscious decisions (using mission and time management) to figure out how much of your time will be spent advancing your mission, those of your loved ones, and society’s. (There’s obviously overlap and subtleties that I’m missing; it’s a big topic.)

I will be very interested in your book. Does it provide any resource materials on particular areas of interest/public action? I have been
very interested in learning more about immigration advocacy. Thank you.

ANYONE doing activism is to be cherished and applauded no matter how limited it is.

In the back of my head is a little man who says, “Yeah, but how much money did you make with this activism? Sitting around getting applause doesn’t pay the bills. Real activists also figure out a way to get paid for it. In America money rules and your respect is shown by the money you are paid. Everyone knows that.”

And this little voice isn’t just imaginary, I’ve actually heard it out loud.
That is a prevailing attitude in the area and family I grew up in. And it was even stronger directed to the men.

the propensity of overgiving, and the idea that having one’s own needs, and devoting time to realizing them, is a bourgeois indulgence.

also, there’s plenty of people who will support your not doing your time management – or react negatively when you do start doing it – because it might reduce your willingness to give your all to their mission.

again, the critical need is for mentors. also, some of the techniques I teach are associated more with the business world, and a lot of progressives have a reflexive (and unhelpful, in my view) reaction to them.

time management also introduces a deep level of accountability and so people sometimes react with hostility.

Check my article on philanthropy mentioned above… here it is again:

Beyond Scarcity: Re-Inventing Wealth in a Progressive World

The focus is on how we value one another and why we need to get beyond the scarcity mindset that leads us to the false choice of doing something because you care or doing something because it pays.

may I mention “hyperactivism,” a term coined by the late, great animal activist Henry Spira. It is a form of workaholism in which activism is performed in the absence of a strategic goal and plan, and therefore destined not to create meaningful change – or as meaningful change as possible.

Hyperactivism is a form of procrastination, and procrastination arises from fear. some people procrastinate using video games, tv, shopping, etc., but a particularly pernicious type of procrastination is mimicking productive work. An example would be an academic who researches her thesis to death but never gets around writing it – or an activist who does hyperactivism. That activist won’t feel as guilty, perhaps, as if he had played video games all day, and there are probably lots of other activists who will reinforce the behavior, but it’s a major problem.

People, the magic wand is always, always, mentors. Here’s an article on how to find and work with one:
http://lifelongactivist.com/blog/261/the-marvelous-mentor-mindset-and-how-it-can-help-you-succeed

I love how you keep saying that all activism should be celebrated and encouraged. We tend to spend too much time criticizing where we have yet to go and not enough time celebrating all that we do.

(And seeing our good side helps us understand how we succeed when we do!)

I agree with this 100%. It is really undermining not to acknowledge successes and strengths. Perfectionism again!

Sounds like the typical grad school experience too! How many of us (who seek masters and Ph.D. degrees) find ourselves taking years to do something we could have done in half the time because we’re avoiding completion by over-emphasis on tedium.

Hyperactivism is a place where time goes to die.

;-)

I don’t provide specific resources for any movement (although lots of examples from many movements). I am actually very familiar with immigrant issues and have refugee foster kids (Sudan). If you contact me after the salon I’ll be happy to do what I can do to support you (this goes for everyone here, btw!)

omg grad school – don’t get me started. one of the most exploitative contexts around.

Been there done that… didn’t waste money on the t-shirt.

;-)

That’s great. Thank you….is there a link? Thanks, B

“Yeah, but how much money did you make with this activism? Sitting around getting applause doesn’t pay the bills. Real activists also figure out a way to get paid for it. In America money rules and your respect is shown by the money you are paid. Everyone knows that.”

Spocko you raise a crucial point. Is is VERY icky to be stuck between two value systems – about the most uncomfortable place there is. I know plenty of activists who are the most amazing, accomplished, wonderful people – and then they go home for the holidays and are totally undermined.

DON’T BUY IT. Don’t buy any of it. Working to not internalize bogus messages like that is itself a form of activism!

The problem is that as an activist (or artist) btw, it is your job to be both open and strong. You don’t have the luxury to compartmentalize or rationalize or deny the way many non-activists do. This leaves you vulnerable – but coping with that vulnerability may be the core work of an activist.

btw, I know you didn’t raise family specifically, but Richard Pryor had the final word on that: “Having a family is like getting a life sentence for a crime you never committed.”

anyone who wants to follow up please email me at lifelongactivist@yahoo.com

also, loads of free downloads (including not just the ebook on overcoming procrastination but also an ebook on how to get a job, people!) at

http://www.lifelongactivist.com/downloads

Totally agreed… don’t internalize value systems that counter yours.

(If this were easy to do, George Lakoff would never have spent decades developing the field of cognitive linguistics in order to give us insights into the value-systems of progressives and conservatives.)

Thank you again. What good information.

speaking of honoring the self and its authentic needs, I will also take this opportunity to promote my article on romance and romance fiction as a progressive value:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hillary-rettig/the-eroticization-of-equa_b_201059.html

mentors and community are key. there’s a pretty clear line: underproductivity (or perceived underproductivity) causes us to feel shame and shame tends to cause us to isolate. people need to come out of the closet and reach out for help – help and support are truly abundant.

Which reminds me, we’ve been talking a lot about the rigors of the activist life. I want to discuss it’s benefits. It’s simply the best life – it puts you in touch with true meaning, and connects you with the world. You also meet the most amazing people in activism.

It’s worth noting that although many people may note the rigors of activism, we are all still doing it – to a greater or lesser extent we recognize those rewards.

I have never heard a middle-aged activist who is working to live life in balance ask “what’s it all for? where’s the meaning?” and yet that sense of existential purposelessness is common among non-activists.

That is a huge gift that activism gives us.

Hillary,

If you had 30 seconds on an elevator with someone who has experienced burnout, what would you tell them to do that would keep it from happening again (without giving up on themselves)?

In 30 seconds I would learn a little about their activism and thank them for it. I would try to reflect for them the importance of the work and their sacrifice. I would also tell them to read my book. ( :-) well I would!) I would also advise them to look for mentors and emphasize self-care and authenticity in the future.

If i had more than 30 seconds I would work with them to understand the nature of their burnout experience and what led to it. Almost always the people i work with blame themselves for failures that weren’t even their fault. They worked for a dysfunctional organization, or a crazy boss, or were juggling impossible conflicts between work and personal responsibilities. These are very common causes of burnout.

I would help them reframe to what i call COMPASSIONATE OBJECTIVITY, a nuanced and more truthful (less self-disparaging) view of their situation.

The internalization of faults is HUGE. Thanks for bringing it up.

How often do we treat our experiences as “failures” when they can be treated as “learning opportunities” about what we would (and wouldn’t!) do again? Sure seems like an important one to me.

Hillary,

It strikes me that at the core of your message is a different way of thinking about the ideal “good job.” Could you talk a bit about how lifelong activism changes how we think about our work lives?

btw, I know you didn’t raise family specifically, but Richard Pryor had the final word on that: “Having a family is like getting a life sentence for a crime you never committed.”

HA!

When I took the article from the New York Times home to my family they had two comments. “How much money did you make from this?” and “Quit! Quit while you are ahead! If you keep this up they will catch you and really hurt you. They won’t forget you cost them millions!”

I’ve had to keep my activism secret from the rest of the family in the very red state because what I was doing was against their “conservatives values”. I saw it as an ethical fight against things that were not really their values, but the right wing radio hosts have done a very good job at turning people against each other and convincing them that hating liberals (even if they are their children) is a good thing.

absolutely. one of my activist heroes is Garry Kasparov, who was the world’s youngest chess grandmaster and is now a democracy activist in Russia. I heard him give a speech in Cambridge about lessons he had learned in chess and the first thing he said was, “I have won hundreds of chess games, and lost thousands. You have to have the courage to fail.”

The reality is that there is no such thing as pure failure. Every failure is a learning process, as you point out Joe. But even beyond that, most failures include elements of success and most successes contain elements of compromise or failure.

Dichotomous thinking (e.g., separating everything into opposites) is a hallmark of both trauma and perfectionism. The perfectionist is the inner bully who is constantly criticizing you and denigrating yourself and your accomplishments – Spocko gave us an example with his “money” comment. Anne Lamott, author of Bird by Bird, calls perfectionism “the voice of the oppressor,” and she’s absolutely right. As activists we need to recognize and work to minimize or eliminate that voice. And that begins where you began in your intro – a realistic, not faux-heroic view of what activism is.

I’m a bit wary of the phrasing “ideal good job” as it sounds a tad perfectionist. But, as I discuss in my book, activists have material needs like everyone else, and they need to give serious thought as to how to meet those needs. The book offers various strategies, but denial – pretending you don’t have those needs – is not a viable option if you’re hoping to build a sustainable activist career.

As we come to the end of this Book Salon,

Hillary, Thank you for spending the afternoon with us discussing your book and how to survive activism.

Joe, Thank you very much for Hosting this great Book Salon.

Everyone, if you haven’t bought Hillary’s book yet, here is a link.

Thanks all.

spocko – your family’s reaction points to just how valuable your work has been, and how valuable you as an activist are. it also shows your bravery.

it’s also too bad that your family can’t support you. many activists (and, again, artists) have shared this experience and have created alternative families for themselves.

on the downloads page of my website I’m sure I have an article about family.

A really good Salon….many thanks. Good ideas.

Sorry to get here late. What a wonderful topic and perspective.

The 3 Ps = Perfectionism, Procrastination, Paralysis

relate! keeping balance and serenity while pushing for reform. important to find kindred spirits.

Thank you to Joe, and to Bev and the FDL communities, and all the participants. It was an honor and so enjoyable to interact with you all.

I can relate. I grew up in rural Missouri and have many friends and family who are “the opposition.” Of course, as you rightly point out, they have been conditioned to see the world through a conservative lens. Yet, watch how often they seek to “protect America” against the neo-conservative values they abhor deep inside (while really acting to preserve a sense of our traditional progressive roots).

A great example is the fear of “socialism” which is the very fascist/authoritarian perspective of neo-conservatives today. They fear the values of those they support, and oppose those who are fighting to defend us against corporate fascism. A large part of this is that they have internalized faulty conceptual models of “how the world works.”

Thank you both, this was an inspiring Salon

(and as always, thanks Bev!)

I want to thank Hillary and Bev too. This has been a great discussion… very important stuff!

Will follow up with books and links. thanks for topic and salon!

large part of this is that they have internalized faulty conceptual models of “how the world works.”

Exactly. I read your scarcity article. Excellent!

Thank you both for this book salon.

Thanks to everyone for participating. I recommend that you read Hillary’s book and continue all of your inspiring activism.

(If you want to keep in touch with me, bounce an email at brewer@cognitivepolicyworks.com or follow me on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/cognitivepolicy)

Ladies & Gentlemen, Jon Walker is upstairs…
Stupak Amendment Could Likely Be Used By Insurance Companies To Discriminate Against Low Income Americans

thanks, joe, wonderful intro, btw!

This is timely for me. I returned to political activism after 2004 -realized I wasn’t doing enough. Energized by FDL action plans, hit the streets, wrote letters, made phone calls, donated till it hurt. But in the last year my husband was ill and died and I have been knocked out of the loop. I have still managed to get on the phone and have made donations to various causes – but I couldn’t even get it together to work for the 2008 election – to get rid of George Bush! Against McCain/Palin! And I still cannot muster enough energy to do much. I’m a wreck, and just tryng to work through that. Meantime, I recognize key issues are on the plate, and i’m doing next to nothing. I appreciate this thread. I know I, and those like me, just need time out, we’ll be back.

I am burnt out with politicians. After working hard to get a Dem president he continues too many GOP policys such as war and war spending, spying, torturing, refusing FOIA inquiries, blocking full open gov, etc. Bush pushed his crap through but we can not pass the most important piece of health legislation with single payer health care. Womens issues such as abortion rights are ignored. It is disappointing when our own party sabotages Dem issues. Hearing abt work on future elections a few months after an election is dispiriting. I did not know we would still have to work so hard even after we voted all three branches of gov Dems controlled. So disappointed that I stay away from the news to get reprieve from all the negativity. The gop treat us like we are the “enemies” rather than an opposing political party. And I am ashamed of the gop’s political parties constant lying and so few on tv calling them on it.

I want smaller government! I want a smaller military! What the hell are we doing sending a bomb to the moon and why are we sending so many expensive rockets into outer space. I want to shrink the size of the IRS with tax reform. This is the 21st century and the IRS is setup for the 19th century, lets reform it. We don’t need 2,000 pages of health care reform, just open up Medicare to all, give huge fines to health care companies that do not pay out for health care services people need and a law against not providing health care to those covered, and install a single payer health care system.

Hey Carolyn,

Just hang in there and take care of yourself. Our loved ones are what we do all our activism for. We have to take time for them (this includes ourselves!) and when we’re hurting, we need to heal.

Unmended wounds tend to fester. Nurturance lies at the heart of our progressive tradition. We don’t let our responsibilities slide away. But we do have to change our priorities when new needs arise.

(Can you feel me sending healing thoughts your way? Because I am.)

Hey Sunshine,

I feel your sentiments. It makes me think about the meaning of cynicism (check this article my colleague, Sue Kerbel wrote on the topic). It also makes me think of the importance of trust in our politics. You might enjoy this take on it from one of my articles earlier this year:

Building a Culture of Trust in Politics

Going into the 21st Century we will need to re-evaluate our political and civic institutions in order to build governmental operations that work. The current system is grossly inadequate (especially the cultural parts of it) for addressing the challenges we’ve got to come together and address.

Joe Brewer: yes, I feel those kind thoughts. Thank you.