Making Space to Slow Down
The Canopy team is beginning 2024 in a deeply reflective place. Naqibah, Debbie, and I (Tessa) have been doing equity and justice work for a long time, and at Canopy for three and a half years. What becomes clearer to us every day is that when we are well resourced ourselves, we are able to show up in the best way possible for our clients. And the reverse is also true. When we are depleted it impacts how grounded we are as we show up to support our clients. And so as we move into 2024 we are recommitting to our values of slower is faster, love care and respect, and investing in our root*.
We are assessing where our culture at Canopy has taken on unnecessary urgency and where we get to slow down, care for ourselves and each other, and nourish our creativity. Based on our introspection, we are making some adjustments to better serve our clients and create more balance for our team. We shared one of these adjustments in our last newsletter: instituting an internal work week each month where we don’t meet with clients, but rather focus on needed prep work, internal business processes, and creating and designing.
I often hear stories from people on the front lines of equity and justice work about how difficult it is to sustain in this work for long periods of time, combined with a deep sense of responsibility to keep going no matter what. I have experienced this myself many times over. In addition to founding Canopy I have been organizing in various community, union, and electoral spaces for a decade.
This requires a level of optimism, energy, and relentlessness that is not limitless.
In moments of burnout and exhaustion I try to remind myself that this is work I want to do over my whole lifetime and so slowing down to refuel is an essential part of my process. Supporting individuals through this is something I cover in my coaching practice, and in a future newsletter we are going to talk about the seasonality of leadership.
It can be so easy to roll right from one year into the next without taking this time to slow down and really think and reflect. As we continue to move into 2024, we invite you to reflect on a few simple questions to get your wheels turning:
What went well in 2023? What were some of the high points? When did you feel most connected as a team? What structures felt most supportive? When did you feel most energized and inspired by your work?
What were some challenges in 2023? What were some of the low points? When did you feel least connected as a team? What structures were missing? When did you feel most drained by your work?
We'd love to hear about what's inspiring you and where you saw opportunities. Send a note and let us know!
With love,
Debbie, Tessa, and Naqibah
How to Work With Us
If you’re interested in individual coaching with Tessa to work through overwhelm and burnout sign up for a free coaching inquiry call here.
Canopy also offers an Organizational Culture Assessment to support your organization to understand where your current culture is working well and where there may be stuck points. Schedule a 30-min consult here to learn more.
Canopy Updates
We are intentionally making more space for joy, rest, and creativity in our days. For me this looks like playing more music (I’ve been listening to this playlist on repeat), cooking different foods with my family, and working in more social spaces like coffee shops where I can feed off the energy of others around me. Naqibah has been going to acupuncture several times a week, dancing more, and prioritizing getting to the gym. She’s really been appreciating this song. Debbie has been drinking hot tea, taking more deep breaths, focusing on being in the moment, and thinking about all the good things in her life (past and present) and what she wants to make happen for her future. Refilling our own cups is allowing us to be more creative. We are so excited to share what we’re cooking up very soon!
Slower Is Faster
We take the time to slow down and do it right. We really soak in the opportunity of building and growing into our lived experiences and memory, so that as we radiate out we reflect mastery. This is the power of our collective growth
Love, Care, and Respect
We come to our work, interactions, and our relationships with ourselves from a place of trust, love and kindness. We see each other as full people with full lives. We recognize and orient towards the humanity in each other and appreciate the miracle of life that each person is.
Investing In Our Root
White supremacy culture is everywhere and if we want to eradicate it, we need to start by building a just foundation. We spend time tending to our values and how they show up in our work and lives.
