Join the evolution and revolution. Self-care required.

“TERMS OF SURVIVAL” SERIES

This twenty-part series introduces you to twenty key terms used in a local mobilizing process that you and your community will require to survive and thrive during colliding crises. The articles will reference those people in positions of power who are fighting to keep a broken status quo.

Concept 20: self-care

First, congratulations on making it through the 20-part “Terms of Survival” series. (Or congrats on discovering this article and I hope it inspires you to read the 19 leading up to it).

Why self-care matters

Never underestimate the importance of the relationship you have with yourself. We focus on the role of self-care while working on the 100% Community initiative. It’s going to be a long process to transform all the under-resourced communities within a county’s border to create a countywide system of care and empowerment. We must ensure that our own physical and emotional health is a priority for what will be a test of endurance, mixed with a sense of great accomplishment.

Cautious optimism and gratitude

One never knows who is reading one’s articles. Some readers are curious, dipping their toe into an issue, while others have been at this work for decades, working with their communities to create the vital services that have been shown to promote health, safety and resilience. To all I say, carve out time to rejuvenate and replenish.

I learned something very valuable living through the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco, watching the towers fall on 9/11 from my neighborhood park in Manhattan, and now navigating the pandemic and economic disruptions from my home base in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The work of community-building requires us to be as physically and emotionally healthy as possible. If I take the time to be calm and centered each morning, expressing gratitude for having another day to engage with the world, I am in a stronger place to be a collaborator.

We all have our own rituals. That’s how we find the strength to do the vital work ahead.

Forward we go. Together.

Despite the horrors show(s) now streaming on your mobiles, without any context or mention of root causes, we have seen successes as heroes do the hard work of social justice. I know a countdown to ensuring that every community is a fully-resourced “100% Community” is possible because the clock has already started.

Yes, things are very complicated on this tiny planet and the work in all fifty states represents a unique challenge. As stated repeatedly, we can’t save the world or the nation. We can absolutely work together to heal our county. So we start there, focused on community.

We start with taking care of ourselves. We take time off. This includes time off from distracting and disempowering media pushing itself into our lives.

From a rested place, with time for weekly reflection, we show compassion to our family and friends. Then to our co-workers and collaborators. Ideally, we find a way to expand the process of care to our neighbors, then to all the neighbors who make up the county we live in. This is what our 100% Community initiative is depending on.

With cautious optimism, let’s keep moving forward, as backwards isn’t really a viable option. To that end, please consider sharing the twenty key concepts presented in this “Terms of Survival” article series with your friends and colleagues to increase the dialogue about a groundbreaking model for community-wide empowerment. A process to heal and protect 100%. Everyone. Everywhere. Starting with you.

See: 100% Community, Chapter 39: Faith

The future is what we make it. Join the evolution.

Please excuse any typos as I construct an article at 3am on only one cup of Joe. These stories are mine and mine alone. I do not represent any organization here. If one of my illustrations looks like a real human or three-headed hydra, that’s total coincidence. Words and images ©Dominic Cappello but share with everyone you know. Questions? Answers await you here: www.tenvitalservices.org