ABSTRACT
One social justice leadership challenge is that large-scale change is slow and nonlinear: we often make progress in one area and backslide in another. This chapter offers practices and tips for handling our despair at that frustrating process. By finding joy in our work, understanding cycles of change, learning about the creative ways communities have countered oppression, and having a go-to “resilience support kit” to support us when we feel hopeless, this chapter offers us ways to keep moving forward.
One of the most critical aspects of this process is to maintain hope. Drawing on the work of Rebecca Solnit, this chapter defines hope not as a certainty that everything will work out, but rather that our work is important and that justice is worth fighting for. It offers practices for filling our well so that we remember why we work toward justice. Spirituality and faith can be important sources for that wellspring for some people. This chapter also encourages readers to practice rituals that tune us in to our deep wisdom and our interconnection with one another.
