What's your superpower?

A few years ago I was interviewing for a job and was asked to share about the social justice work I was engaged in. I felt deeply inadequate answering this question, as I hadn’t been showing up at recent protests, doing grassroots canvassing or calling my senators. I felt really guilty. Has this ever happened to you? You don’t feel like you are doing enough to give back to your community.

And then I paused and started to share about some behind the scenes work I was doing. I was about a month away from hosting the retreat “Kindling the Flame Within,” which I had envisioned and had been planning for many months. The retreat was supporting nurses, teachers and social workers to connect to their inner voice and community through coaching, reflection, yoga, rest and Jewish wisdom. I had stepped into the leadership of envisioning this retreat thanks to much reflection about my strengths and aspirations for building community and creating a more sustainable ecosystem for educators.

When I was a classroom teacher, there wasn’t an emphasis on caring for ourselves. I was explicitly told by administration that it was a problem that I would take time to meditate outdoors at lunch, rather than engage in more lesson planning with my colleagues. Burnout is a very real thing and retreats can be an integral space to counteract it and keep people in justice work for the long haul.  I knew “Kindling the Flame Within” would be supporting the leaders who were on the frontlines of teaching, serving, and healing and that building a retreat aligned with my superpowers of being a wizard of logistics and inclusive community builder.

I was guilting myself into believing I wasn’t engaged in justice work because the type of work I was doing is not typically uplifted in the stories we highlight about social change. In fact, one of the reasons I didn’t have time and space to attend protests or do canvassing was because outside of my day job, my free time for nearly 5 months was dedicated to putting on this retreat. 

I’m thinking about this on MLK Day, specifically because of the story of Georgia Gilmore, who baked pies and cooked meals to raise crucial funds to sustain the protestors of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In the children’s book, Pies from Nowhere: How Georgia Gilmore Sustained the Montgomery Bus Boycott, her story of fueling a justice movement is told. Yet, typically when history reflects on the bus boycott, stories like hers aren’t told.

Creating social change starts by getting in tune with yourself. For Georgia it was understanding what she had to offer and her courage to get other women on board to join her endeavor.

What are your strengths?

What lifts your spirit?

What inspires you?

Perhaps you aren’t going to be in the centerfold of the newspaper leading the movement, but how can you lead from where you are, bringing yourself and your strengths forward?

For me, that’s building community rooted in wonder and inspiration. What’s that for you?

Circle and Spoke is excited to be launching its first retreat this fall to support women in getting in tune with themselves through a six day bike retreat along the C&O Canal. We don’t see this as a frivolous thing. When we are in tune with ourselves, our ability to catalyze and ripple greater change and justice is truly possible. More retreat details to come and in the meantime, if you’d like to be one of the first to learn more, fill out this retreat interest form.

Wishing you a meaningful week ahead of getting in tune with your superpowers!

Wheels up,

Ellen