Racial Justice Resources: Self-care

"As a student of color, you may experience additional frustrations as a result of racism, and this can lead to race-related stress."

"Our ancestors knew that our health was more than just about the physical, that our bodies are made up of four distinct parts: the mental body, the emotional body, the physical body and the spiritual body. Trauma can be stored in these different parts of our being, and so by working with our four bodies, we remind ourselves of our full humanity."

This helpsheet goes over the connection between burnout and activism and suggests strategies to improve self-care.

"There is an unwavering resilience that is expected from black women, whether it’s to provide emotional support, forgo the need for paid work or privacy in the name of “the cause”. It’s exhausting and can be harmful, especially when there is the expectation that our personal lives should be available for everyone to consume."

"When we as POCI experience day-to-day discrimination, such as being treated unfairly, or when we witness the significant discrimination of others who look like us, we can start feeling helpless and hopeless. The incidents of racial trauma are continuous and chronic, as we observe increased police killings of unarmed Black people, hate crimes against Muslims (or those who are assumed to be), assaults and killings of transgender POCI, violation of Indigenous lands, and the dehumanization of immigrant communities. In moments of increased distress, it is important for us to remind ourselves that racial trauma is not all of who we are and that we are not defined by the racialized experiences we have and witness."

In this article, activists share how they take care of themselves while engaging in work that brings up trauma.