sisyphus
I'm exhausted.
I pushed thru the weekend to win a winnable fight. To push a bolder up a hill. I threw my shoulder into it. I watched all day as others I'd organized threw their shoulders in. In the last 10 years of doing this work, I have actually never organized such a diverse and powerful group of people to do anything. And at about 5:00 pm today, I saw the bolder roll down the hill, and sit there. And all of us weary up the mountain, with nothing to do but look back in our exhaustion.
In so many ways, my work is not unusual to me. I know how to do this shit. I know the arguments they're gonna make, I know the story we need to tell. I know how hard it is to win what we need, and how to pivot to what we can win.
Soon after I watched the bolder roll down the hill, in the window between when I knew we'd lost and when I had to process that loss by facilitating a few dozen people on a video call (😓) I talked to Mike. We talked about how, in this moment, you can get the media to turn to you. You can be the main topic of the daily press conference. And then, by the end of the day, the story is over. The problem for his members hadn't been solved. Mine haven't been solved (despite nearly 10 media stories, two press questions, the labor and business lobby weighing in). We're running mini-campaigns in the span of hours, days. And we're losing.
This sprint turning into a long-distance run is exhausting. I was ready to put down this baton and pick up others. Things I had put off. And I wanted to take a day, or even half a day, off this week.
Today I was in the eye of the hurricane, and I didn't know it. I thought the storm had passed. I enjoyed the sun today. I let the campaign unfold while I chopped a giant pineapple I'd bought over the weekend into manageable chunks. I just sat on my picnic bench and did nothing for a while. I enjoyed the sun.
PS. I found this image because I can't actually spell Sisyphus without the internet. you and me sis.
I pushed thru the weekend to win a winnable fight. To push a bolder up a hill. I threw my shoulder into it. I watched all day as others I'd organized threw their shoulders in. In the last 10 years of doing this work, I have actually never organized such a diverse and powerful group of people to do anything. And at about 5:00 pm today, I saw the bolder roll down the hill, and sit there. And all of us weary up the mountain, with nothing to do but look back in our exhaustion.
In so many ways, my work is not unusual to me. I know how to do this shit. I know the arguments they're gonna make, I know the story we need to tell. I know how hard it is to win what we need, and how to pivot to what we can win.
Soon after I watched the bolder roll down the hill, in the window between when I knew we'd lost and when I had to process that loss by facilitating a few dozen people on a video call (😓) I talked to Mike. We talked about how, in this moment, you can get the media to turn to you. You can be the main topic of the daily press conference. And then, by the end of the day, the story is over. The problem for his members hadn't been solved. Mine haven't been solved (despite nearly 10 media stories, two press questions, the labor and business lobby weighing in). We're running mini-campaigns in the span of hours, days. And we're losing.
This sprint turning into a long-distance run is exhausting. I was ready to put down this baton and pick up others. Things I had put off. And I wanted to take a day, or even half a day, off this week.
Today I was in the eye of the hurricane, and I didn't know it. I thought the storm had passed. I enjoyed the sun today. I let the campaign unfold while I chopped a giant pineapple I'd bought over the weekend into manageable chunks. I just sat on my picnic bench and did nothing for a while. I enjoyed the sun.
PS. I found this image because I can't actually spell Sisyphus without the internet. you and me sis.
Addendum: u won :)
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