Day 6: Humility
#evolving40 Day 6: Humility
When I was a teenager, I thought I had it all figured out: who I was, what life was all about, and what was good for everyone. Going to college and living abroad threw open the doors to a world I’d been unknowingly seeing through a keyhole. When I was introduced to people and cultures completely different from me, I was humbled to realize how much I still had to learn.
Right now, many are in the process of a similar awakening, and it's an opportunity for all of us to practice humility. If you’ve been active in social change work for a long time, you may feel the need to school newly activated folks on how it’s done. The newly activated may feel shame or defensiveness about how much we don’t know about systems of oppression, and about how long it’s taken us to be actively involved in dismantling them (or to re-involve ourselves after a time away). We can be better allies if we check our egos and focus on our common goals.
My work has been social justice-adjacent for most of my career, but in recent years I’ve drifted away from an active role. I’ve busied myself with family life and creative projects; I’ve felt overwhelmed by the hugeness of the world’s problems and the heartache I feel when I learn about them. But in recent weeks, I’ve begun to re-engage, catalyzed by those around me and the many different ways to plug in to the work.
If we can practice humility, we’ll see that we all have more to learn, and that we need to welcome people to the table no matter where they are in their consciousness. Instead of calling people flip-floppers for evolving their beliefs, or canceling them altogether when they get it wrong, we can give them the grace to grow. We all screw up; we can all become better humans who are part of the solution instead of the problem. Compassion helps us transform; judgment makes us hide.
As my friend Sierra put it in the comments of the Evolving 40 post on Wisdom: “I'm trying to lean into the fact that in another year from now, I'll be embarrassed by things I'm saying and doing right now...and that's a good thing since it means I'm still evolving.”
* How I’ve evolved: I’ve grown in my tolerance for discomfort and am less quick to look away. I’m more okay with saying “I don’t know much about that, but I’d like to learn more,” instead of pretending to know, or feeling ashamed that I don’t yet.
* How I’m still evolving: I realize that it’s white privilege that allows me to choose when to engage in social change work. It’s up to me not to let it slip away again.
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If you’d like to join me for The Evolving 40:
- All are welcome. Jump in at any time.
- On the daily theme, think: “How have I evolved? How am I evolving?”
- Length and format are up to you.
- Post in the comments below or on your own social with the hashtag #evolving40.
- Whatever comes up is what’s meant to be!
