“You can’t lead anyone further than you have gone yourself.”
~ African Proverb
This is a new beginning for all of us. I’m inviting you to take a sacred pause with me. Reflect on the things you have done to nourish yourself. Reflect on the things you would like to do more often to nourish yourself, your clients, students, community partners, and colleagues.
I want to take this opportunity during our new beginning together to call us home to ourselves. What do I mean by this? I am committed to both self-care and community-care. As you are doing work, I want you to know you can—and must—take care of yourself. For psychologists, students, elected and appointed leaders, and APA staff to work for the betterment and care of society we must also work for our collective well-being.
As we think of our rest, nutrition, exercise, and other daily practices of care, we also want to think about showing up for each other with care and compassion. The reality is we are often overwhelmed by the demands for productivity and the measure of meaning based on the caretaking of others, whether we are taking care of individuals, families, communities, institutions, or corporations.
Many of us are stretched thin by COVID fatigue, the trauma of oppression, individual and collective grief, and unyielding work demands. We need to not simply work harder and longer but come home to the principles of compassionate care—applying them to ourselves and each other.
It is important that we do not operate out of denial of what is happening around us: We are conducting research, running a practice, teaching, and consulting amid multiple sources of stress and trauma. We are functioning as best as we can during a global pandemic and the societal trauma of oppression. The reality is that many psychologists and psychology students are burned out.
Come home to the truth that our best work is not just how we are evaluated by others for our research, practice, teaching, and consultation but also how we care for and respond to ourselves and each other. Let’s begin this new year and build the health and well-being of our communities together.
Thema Bryant, PhD, is the 2023 APA president, a professor of psychology at Pepperdine University, and an ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Follow her on Twitter: @drthema or Instagram: @dr.thema.