I’ve been listening to a great podcast series from the Conversation Network’s Social Innovation Channel, and listened to a keynote by a fascinating changemaker and human rights activist, Van Jones (he is the president and co-founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights (EBC) based in Oakland, California).
He stresses the importance of allowing yourself to recharge, and to talk to people who aren’t involved in your work in order to get outside perspective. He emphasizes this by saying, “We who believe in freedom have to rest.�*
While it is so easy for us in this line of work to think that we cannot take a break or else world peace will never come, or the kids won’t get fed, or that they’ll chop down more trees, we have to remember that we can’t accomplish our missions if we first don’t find balance within ourselves.
How true it is. And right now we at BUILD are approaching our truest and only “slow” season–our week off between Christmas and New Years, and the first couple of weeks before the students come back to the program. Let’s all take this time to rest, reflect, and be with others who may not necessarily be in the social sector.
*The original quote is actually from Ella Baker, and read, “We who believe in freedom cannot rest…” Click here to read the rest of Ella Baker’s song.
I hope you get all the rest you need and deserve. Have a very happy holidays and a wonderful new year.
Thanks for your interest in the Conversations Network Social Innovation Channel. I’m Bernadette Clavier, the channel’s executive producer. Enjoy a restful break indeed. We all need it!
🙂
I tout myself as a technologically savvy person, but why did I JUST figure out how to approve comments today?
Thanks for the comments, although I received them really late. I’ll try to be more on top of it!