Self care is widely not practiced in the global north. We are accustomed to work and eat at our desk and hope that our hard work gets noticed with upper management in order to receive recognition. in the article provided, we need to reclaim the moment to breathe and understand that most job requests are not an emergency. Many of us suffer whenever a person in upper management asks for a report and we try our best to complete it, worrying and stressing that our position is in a precarious position. it takes a bit of mental strength to convince ourselves that our jobs isn’t always on the line.
A form of care I take is that if i did not sign up for a high pressured environment then I will not stress about it. Many organizations artificially create high pressured environments that eat away at our psyche. It is reported that many BIPOC are the ones that experience this the most. it’s a form of institutionalized oppression that was built many eons ago and it is still being used today all under the guise of capitalism. Not many organizations dont have the capacity to stop and have backup for missing personnel. We often see minimum paid workers refuse to take a sick day in fear of upsetting upper management, only for that loyalty be thrown out the window the moment layoffs happen.
Organizational recognition of the worker is key for a productive environment. The burden of work should not rely on one person but as a team. Many organizations fail to prepare for absences and make the worker suffer to cover up their lack of preparation. Care should be accessible to everyone and not have the individual force themselves and struggle to find care.
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Nelson, your post got me thinking about our presentation on Precarity and how lack of care from the institutions was leading to the early deaths of scholars of color. But your last lines made me recall a situation that one of my friends is going through (I’m sharing with their consent). You wrote, “The burden of work should not rely on one person but as a team. Many organizations fail to prepare for absences and make the worker suffer to cover up their lack of preparation. Care should be accessible to everyone and not have the individual force themselves and struggle to find care.” My friend is a doctor and is currently suffering from high stress and a physical injury. Instead of receiving treatment for their injury at the hospital they work at, they’ve chosen to ignore the injury because they feel as if they cannot take a day off. Apparently, they are needed in the next two months because there’s a lack of staff and the hospital doesn’t have a contingency plan in the event that this person is absent. I’ve told my friend to speak up and explain the situation, but they truly feel like they are not in a position to request time off to receive care. It’s crazy how someone that provides care every day is afraid to request care for themselves because they are concerned about their job security.
Oh, Adrianna, this is heartbreaking and infuriating.
Nelson, your comment that “care should be accessible to everyone and not have the individual force themselves and struggle to find care” really stood out to me. I think a lot about this as someone who has access to CUNY’s employee assistance program (https://www.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/hr/benefits/#1595353428790-42a6acde-ee2d). I only know how useful this is because I’ve had it at other employers, and I’ve learned to ask new employers for information about it…but, none of my colleagues know about it, or understand how it can be useful, and it’s wild to me that CUNY itself doesn’t seem to promote it more. I’ve spent a lot of time talking colleagues through how it can be used and how to get started. Why do we have to work so hard to find the care that’s *actually available*??
Nelson, I like your comment about not stressing if you did not opt into a particular situation. With apologies for the weird analogy, a parenting book I read recently focused on the idea that “you don’t have to go in there!”—in other words, not to unnecessarily take on another’s stress/anger/etc as your own. I get that it’s not as simple as that, but it’s a framing that I have found surprisingly empowering.