Why Our Team is Going on Sabbatical This Month.
I’m famous for rushing to relax. Rushing to acupuncture in between meetings. Squeezing every minute out of work calls then rushing to family time or couple time or girls time. So, I am THE LAST PERSON to be giving advice on the practice of rest, but here we are.
Our team at Beloved Community is going on sabbatical together. Not a retreat, not an internal strategy reflection, but a collective rest for the month of February. This is a radical act for us, especially as People Of Color, to invest in our own rest.
Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been envisioning what rest looks and feels like in our bodies. The mere idea of intentional rest surfaced some pain for us. We’re exhausted and we still associate work with self-worth. We’re deeply committed to changing the world and sometimes think we haven’t earned rest. Some of us resisted the idea of collective rest - that it felt forced or artificial, or that we would lose momentum on our work. Spoiler alert: we didn’t resolve any of these needs. We listened. We held space for each other.
We had a sabbatical guidance session with Jackie O! Holistic Life Coach from Memphis. She coached us on sustaining the soul that serves and encouraged us to identify what will signal that we’re embracing rest. Making pancakes on a Wednesday morning? Rosé all day? Napping and nodding off? Getting lost in a book? Here’s what the Royal Team is reading these days. However we choose to rest, we’re committing to ask ourselves some daily questions:
How am I feeling?
What do I need most right now?
What will serve my best and highest good?
Who am I?
We don’t know exactly what this will look like, but in the words of the Nap Bishop, “We will rest.”
How did we decide on a team sabbatical?
Often, when we told a partner, client or funder that we were taking a team sabbatical, they would lean in and ask how we were managing it. I wish I could say that our sabbatical was a natural extension of having built rest into our work culture, but there were three reflection points that inspired our commitment:
A funny thing happened to our cash flow in 2019 -- we had $0 revenue for the month of February. There are probably lots of reasons for that, but it raised the question -- if that was a natural lull for Beloved’s work, how can we see that data point as an asset?
As a New Orleans-based non profit, we embrace that February is the heart of Mardi Gras season. Mardi Gras is not a one-day event for us - we’re deep in family time, cooking, costuming, krewe parades, balls, etc. for weeks. (Here’s one way we’re celebrating this year during COVID. #stayhome) Each year I’ve been in meetings or facilitations in February where it was clear that I was the last step between 300 people and drinking a daiquiri in the street. Trust me when I tell you, nobody wants to be in that position. How might our collective rest honor our community time?
Last fall we reviewed our personnel data. Even though we have unlimited paid time off, our team only took an average of 7 vacation days per year. Because our team has high levels of compassion and empathy, no one wanted their vacation to mean more work for the rest of the team. That was the final straw. If we’re trying to protect and care for our team by NOT taking time away from work, what if we all just paused our work together? We committed to sabbatical in September 2020 and started learning about the practice. Shout out to Christine Ortiz from Equity Meets Design for sharing their sabbatical values and protocols with us!
When we’re all back “in the office” in March, we’ve already planned some time to reconnect, share how our rest manifested, and explore ways to incorporate more rest and restorative practices into our routines. But until then, we’re resting. My wish for our team and for you is that we all find ways to just be in our bodies.