All I can offer

Helping Friendly Newsletter, 05.23.25

Programming note:

Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, I will publish 5 things to consider every other week and pause on the weeks between. I need to free up brain and calendar space to develop ideas offline, and I want to let the sun work its magic on me. For you, this means more grounded offerings to come.

Happy summer, y'all! 🍓

“All I can offer you is me.” - Ram Dass

GM! ☕️

Here are this fortnight’s 5 things to consider:

---

1. If you feel flooded by the chaos of Trump 2.0, I am right there with you. Here are a few things I’ve found meaningful as we navigate rising authoritarian waters:
   

   • Jessica Yellin’s News Not Noise
     

   • Jamila Bradley’s clarity around the importance of ritual and spirit
     

   • Reinhold Niebuhr’s insights on Love and Justice (not to mention his well-worn serenity prayer)
     

   • Parker Palmer’s perspective on America’s newfound humility and “coming home to each other”

     “So reach out, reach in and c’mon home! Join with others in the noisy public square and in the silence of your own heart. Together we can say NO! to the hollow men and women in high places who try to fill the bottomless pit within themselves by taking others down. Together we can say YES! to lifting each other up, showing the world again and again that this is what the body politic of a living democracy looks like.”
     
     —Parker Palmer, “Coming Home to Each Other”

   • creative strategies like guerilla archiving, justiceAI.GPT, and craftivism
     

   • the present-tense joy in adrienne maree brown’s Pleasure Activism
     

   • Ram Dass’s encouragement for ”dancing in the ocean of change” and becoming an environment of safety;

     “Can you imagine being an environment such that, when you walk down the street, everybody who sees you feels at home? That you are an environment that would allow everybody to feel safe, feel loved, feel protected, feel beautiful, feel they had a right to exist?…You and I are environments for each other.”
     
     —Ram Dass, “Intuitive Rightness”

---

2. A classic technique for tending the nervous system: Apply liberally.

   

   Graphic by Matty Piazzi on LinkedIn.

---

3. Burnout care: Burnout prevention and recovery require different strategies. Also, power and privilege make the topic complex, and every profession is unique. Here is what I recommend (hold it lightly—these are invitations, not tasks). ⬇️

   
   
   PREVENT BURNOUT:

   • do what you can to reduce stressors within your sphere of influence

   • build rest and recovery into your routine, not “if needed” or “when I can,” but “because I must”

   • activate a network of support

   • actually log off on nights, weekends, and vacations

   • implement phone and digital boundaries

   • focus on value added, not hours or busyness

   • stop doing work that isn’t yours

   • embrace “imperfectionism”

   • invest time in developing positive work relationships

   • engage in activities that remind you who you are, beyond work

   
   
   RECOVER FROM BURNOUT:

   • acknowledge what is happening and talk about it (it helps to start with a trusted confidante)

   • stop working and create space for change

   • understand that burnout is not a performance issue, but a normal human response to prolonged stress

   • experiment and iterate as you try new things

   • accept that recovery is a healing process, which means…shit will get real, you may need help, and it will likely take longer than you like

   • be patient when you falter; everyone does; recovery is nonlinear

   • honor the grief of letting go (of identify, status, control, etc…)

   • delight in (re)discovering who you are and what you love

   
   Not sure? Here’s a 101 on what burnout actually is.

   
   Need help? Let’s talk (30 min free).
   

---

4. Weird, uninhibited, maximalist: Folk artist and father of “intertwangleism” Butch Anthony uses found materials, ranging from art supplies gleaned at yard sales to roadkill he prepares through a years-long process of natural decomposition and sun-bleaching. To give you an idea, the centerpiece of his current exhibition is a ginormous wedding dress made of bones. For more of Anthony’s work, check out his Museum of Wonder in Seale, Alabama and this digital collection shared by the (also very cool) Secret History of American River People.

   *** Intertwangleism: “inter = to mix; twang = a distinctive way of speaking, thinking, behaving, assessing; and ism = a theory.” ***
   

---

5. In the name of all that is holy!
   

   “You and I both know that the last thing I need is to watch another inane video, read another hot take, or buy any more shit I absolutely do not need. In your infinite mercy, guide me away:…from the virtual and into the actual…from feared tomorrows into only this now…from what I see on a screen to what I behold in my life…from what I am manipulated to desire to what I am content to have.”
   
   —Nadia Bolz Weber, “A prayer for trying to stay off the internet more”

---

ICYMI, last week I made a quote comic about love, featuring words by Tennessee Williams:

---

Thank you for reading! This newsletter is a labor of love. 💌 To support it, you can upgrade to a paid subscription, share this post, or engage my services. You can learn more about my work at jenniferlphillips.com.

Peace,

Jenny

P.S. green looks great on you 👇🏼

A post by @timescanner on tumblr.

P.P.S. fave cover of a Kermit classic. Kacey says, “it’ll all be alright.”