Discussion: how do you choose where to put your energy?

[tanaqui]

I'm sure many of us are feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of different issues being raised by the Minority President's administration: attacks on the media, Russian interference, threats to the ACA and abortion rights, immigration, First Amendment rights and Net Neutrality, dismantling public protections for our environment and our finances....

We've already had a post about how to approach your activism once you've decided which issues you want to work on. But, as sathari said in a comment to the last check-in post:

[T]here are so many things WRONG, which are the MOST wrong that I need to speak up about RIGHT NOW?

So this post is a place for people to suggest ways we can each figure out where we're going to put our energies when so much is wrong but we can't tackle all of it.

Comments

[snickfic]

I think there are a couple of key things to remember, here.

First, each person has a few actions or activities that they are better qualified to be involved with than most people, due to proximity/life circumstances/personal skills. "Grow where you're planted," and all that. And this can mean a lot of different things. If you are already involved with serving and advocating for immigrants in your community, keep doing that, and maybe watch for ways in which you can share your knowledge and experiences with people who are newly anxious to help the immigrant population but don't know how. If you are involved with Big Brothers / Big Sisters in your community, keep doing that!

I'm in a region with special elections coming up this year, so I'm choosing to focus most of my attention on helping to build up my local Democratic party. I'm doing some writing for them, I'm serving as a primary email contact for new folks to the party, I'm managing spreadsheets - I'm using all the skills I've already spent years in fandom developing. Meanwhile another member is setting up speakers for our meetings and designing a logo and business cards for us, none of which I have any aptitude for at all.

I think it's a huge mistake to let our eye catch on the first big dramatic need we see and say "I have to become the person that can fill that need." Believe me, there is plenty of need to go around!

Each person also has specific things they care about most. I will show up in support of environmental protections and reproductive rights, but the issue that really gets to me personally is voting rights. If I only have the time/energy to call my rep about one issue, I'm going to call about the voting rights bills in the state legislature. Nobody should feel bad about having things that they are most passionate about! That passion helps drive your creativity and energy to do your best work possible on those specific issues, and every issue needs people who are able to give it that passionate focus.

And finally, those things that you just don't have the time or energy to work on? Chances are good there are other people showing up to fill that need. Some people are unable to protest, for financial, geographical, or physical reasons, but I encountered someone the other day who says she goes to protests every weekend partly on behalf of all the people who can't. (And now I'm tearing up a little about it, again.)

The downside of our current situation is that the country is a tire fire, but the upside is that there are more people picking up buckets of water than we have seen in many, many years. It's not all on you. It's not even mostly on you. Most of what we've all been doing the last few months would be pointless if there weren't many, many other people doing it with us. Does my congressman care about a phone call from me, specifically? No. Does my congressman care about hundreds and hundreds of phone calls from all over his district? YOU BET HE DOES. Every time I call my reps, I do it trusting that there are other people from my district doing the same. Every piddly donation I make, I do it trusting there are lots of other people making those same donations.

Our power is not primarily in what any single person does, but that we do it together. And that gives each of us the freedom to find where we fit the best.

*climbs down off soapbox*