![]() ![]() Find community and take a moment to relax, laugh, and eat some good food together. Where you can, try and make intentional space to connect and celebrate with the other Black folks in your life. This month it’s especially important to be intentional about who you surround yourself with and what types of interactions or activities make up your day. Mute those stories, hit that unfollow button, do whatever you need to limit your engagement with all that white noise. Don’t waste your energy reacting or having to bear witness to the ways that white folks are and aren’t showing up for you this month. This is an opportunity to be mindful of what types of conversations you are available for and what digital detox practices you might choose to cultivate to keep your mind clear and your heart strong. It can be stressful knowing that each time we open our phone, we might be bombarded with posts or content that is triggering, re-traumatizing, or just plain exhausting. You can set digital boundaries with what types of information you are exposed to. Do yourself a favor and stay off your socials this month, or reduce your time on the scroll. Social media has the power to connect us, but it can also feel deeply empty and hollow when not backed by meaningful and consistent action. Stay off socials or limit your engagement Tricia encapsulates the weight of this grind culture of the Black communities perfectly on Twitter, when she tweets, “My heart breaks knowing that there are so many Black who don’t think they deserve to rest and feel guilt when they actually rest.” If you ever needed permission to rest, this is itĢ. The Nap Ministry is a project started in 2016 by poet and daydreamer Tricia Hersey that “examines the liberating power of naps.” Tricia reframes the concept of rest as a liberating tool that takes courage to cultivate in the current grind culture that exists today. Under these conditions, rest can feel impossible and mistakes can feel fatal (even when they’re not). It’s easy to feel weighed down and stressed out, when you have to work twice as hard to get half as far. ![]() It can be hard for Black folks to take the pressure off. ![]() In the age of capitalism and mass productivity, we often don’t get the opportunity to rest, and when we do, it can be hard to enjoy it. One of the most influential actions you can do for your mental health is to rest. Here are some strategies that you can use during Black History Month to observe the holiday while dealing with the effects of racial trauma and holding space for your mental health through it all. These compounded feelings of racial trauma may cause feelings of dysphoria, depression, and anger. Black queer and trans people are especially exhausted when it comes to “allyship”, “awareness”, and other buzzwords that don’t do much to improve the actual lived conditions that Black LGBTQ+ are facing everyday. With the disproportionate effects of COVID-19, skyrocketing unemployment rates, and ceaseless violence and brutality against Black people at the hands of law enforcement and the news cycle, to say that Black people are living in an ongoing state of emergency is nothing short of an understatement.Īwareness of Black people’s historical contributions doesn’t seem as important as the actions that white people take to combat white supremacy and show up for Black liberation. However, these days, in the harsh realities that Black communities face, a month dedicated to awareness of the unsung heroes of the past leaves more to be desired. ![]() Black history is American history and should be taught and recognized as such. Black History Month is meant to be a time to celebrate the successes, achievements, and incredible legacies of Black people who have come before us. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |