Activism Withdrawals

[citizen of industry]

Everytime I go to a demo or rally or something I feel great for a couple days then I start to get all stressed out like I'm not doing enough. I'm active in my union and everything, and meet with people from other organizations, and go to events a couple times a week. But I always feel like I should be doing something every day. If I have a day where I just go to work and don't do anything else I get stressed out. Does this happen to anyone else?

[Ele'ill]

Yes.

[citizen of industry]

Good to know.

[Ele'ill]

http://www.revleft.com/vb/dealing-burn-out-t164526/index.html


This thread might help too if you haven't caught it yet.

[citizen of industry]

Ahh, burnout. I realize the danger, but I feel the opposite. Like, I wish I didn't have to work at all so I could devote all my time to activism. It's not that I feel burned out, more like I feel that I want to do more and more, and sometimes there are events I want to go to but I can't because I have to work that day, then I get stressed.

[HEAD ICE]

if you are feeling that you aren't "doing enough" then you're doing it wrong

[bricolage]

do nothing.

we came up with this during the activism debate at the beginning of our MD venture. It was and remains a provocation, we think it is important to say whatever it is possible to say within the pro-revolutionary milieu both to bring new terms of reference in and to illuminate the existing and usually unquestioned conventions. `Do nothing' is an immediate reflection of `do something' and its moral apparatus which is how we characterised the activist scene. `Do something' is an agitated reflex to stimuli, a theorisation of turning yourself into a bridge, there is a perceived urgency and a presupposition that the doer is doing something important but `do something' also suggests `do anything', a desperate injunction to press every button to save the world. We disliked the connotations of `do something', and were aware that all the other stuff wasn't getting talked about in the rush to make protest appear on the streets. `Do nothing' means thinking about the reproduction of authoritarian and capitalist forms within this political milieu, it also ties in with our notion of revolutionary subjectivity and what is appropriate for the pro-revolutionary role..

[NoOneIsIllegal]

Everytime I go to a demo or rally or something I feel great for a couple days then I start to get all stressed out like I'm not doing enough. I'm active in my union and everything, and meet with people from other organizations, and go to events a couple times a week. But I always feel like I should be doing something every day. If I have a day where I just go to work and don't do anything else I get stressed out. Does this happen to anyone else?
You're doing more than a lot of other people here. Pat yourself on the back, son.

[Os Cangaceiros]

I've actually never felt like the OP.

I'm pretty lazy, though.

[Magón]

I was burned out for a whole year once, from rallying and things like that. I've learned since then, to choose my places better so I don't burn out and get tired of running around, doing different things.

[Искра]

You should relax. You can't do everything. I realised that realy late, after I got nervous brake down. There was my organisation, book translation, papers, student movement, anti-EU movement, demostrations, discussions within organisation or movements, conflicts and collage... So, I broke...

Well, I got OCD from all of that, so I win ;)

[citizen of industry]

Well, I'll try to heed everyones advice. Anyway, two demos lined up for next week so I'm all good.

[Искра]

Acutally, I don't see why are demos such an issue? In Croatia in March and April 2011 we had demos every single day. It was actually relaxing. We made banners, leaflets etc. and then we would just gathered and walk-the-walk.

I find other organisational question and activist stuff more stressful, especially when it comes to discussing something important with dogmatics and reformists...

[citizen of industry]

Yeah, I find demos relaxing and a lot of fun too. Union organizing is more difficult, but I like that too. I just don't like it when nothing is going on. Then I just read up on theory and work, but after a couple days of no action I feel useless, like an armchair revolutionary. I don't feel close to burnout at all. Just wondering if other people feel that way.

[Искра]

Well, I left my organisation with my "fraction" and I'm working on a new organisation with some of them, which make me feel useless and like armchair revolutionary. I hate splits, especially when it comes to small organisations. But you can't work with anarchists and left-liberals.

Anyhow, you shouldn't feel like that. You can do other tasks, or you can get some rest and recharge your batteries. I always like those moments, because then I can write.