As a trans man I have spent a lot of my time advocating for my community, running student groups and working with charities to try to help my community get better. When finishing my final year at university I began to feel overwhelmed with the amount of volunteer work I was doing, alongside studies and paid work. Additionally, this was during the beginning of the election where a large amount of anti-trans rhetoric was being shared.
I decided to take time away from activism whilst in my masters to take time to reset.
To do this I:
Deleted all news apps for 6 months
Deleted many social media apps
Spent time in a community garden and queer craft group
Spent time with friends away from activism
Attended but did not organise in transgender spaces
I aimed to minimize the amount of time I spent interacting with anti-trans voices, and instead focus on myself and my community in other ways. By being in friendly supportive queer spaces rather than solely focusing on issues and problems allowed me to be a part of the community without feeling like I was constantly seeing people who hated me.
Stepping away can feel selfish, I definitely had some feelings of guilt. It may be unclear who will take over some roles, or if some initiatives will continue. However long term this period of rest has allowed me to refocus my efforts, and become a better, and healthier, advocate for my community. Other people did take over my work, and some projects changed. Some of the things that I did stopped happening, but other new projects started.
Returning and re-evaluating
When returning to my advocacy work I created a much more focused approach. To do this I looked at what was having the biggest negative impact on my mental health, such as looking at comments sections on social media. I also looked at what helped my mental health, such as community bonding projects. I also looked at where I was overworked, such as doing a lot of free labour for the university’s DEI projects, when I should have been paid.
My advice for any overworked activist is to take a step back and take stock. This could be a weekend, a few months or even a few years. I found it helpful to list what I did and categorise it into 3 categories.
Some things are draining but useful- do these sustainably, and ask for help if you need. Some things are not draining and help others- do these as much as possible. Some things are draining and not useful to yourself or others- try to cut these out of your life. Check in regularly, and make sure you don’t take on more than you can handle- there is no shame in saying no.
I decided to:
Focus my volunteering on local community efforts that have impact.
Continue to focus on research to help the trans community, starting a PhD in trans healthcare.
Not accept unpaid advocacy work that was not community based. I would not work for companies or university management for free.
Continue to minimise social media, instead read more books to increase my knowledge.
Engage in news from credible sources and giving myself permission to ignore anti-trans rhetoric if it was impacting my mental health.
Keep focusing on my mental health with a therapist.
It can be easy to feel overwhelmed and burnt out. Taking the time to take stock, focus on yourself and step away can allow you to make a plan and see where your energy is best spent. If you are feeling burnt out, tired or ground down I would take time to work out what parts of your life are making you feel like this. Refocus away from areas of life that take more than they are worth.
Ask yourself: Is this worth my time and energy?
People are not endless wells of energy that can always give, but we have limited energy we should give out with care and compassion. Community work is vital, but we have to do it in a way that is sustainable, so we can keep doing it into the future.
