Gender Jumper

Last year, I started sniffing around for a support group for facilitators, but not much turned up. I believe firmly that the capacity to hold space for others carries a specific mindset that can be difficult to take off or put on at will; if those who hold space for others cannot find ways to commiserate and consult, we burn out much faster.

But having the idea and having an execution are two different things!

I suppose the closest I have found is the Grief and Care Under Capitalism Support Group, which has been an invaluable space the past 6+ months. I've also felt connected to the person who facilitates, but I don't quite know what degree they are open to talking more outside the space. (I suppose I could ask. Ugh. I've been in too many normie spaces the last few years and just like forgot how to be bold and sensitive at the same time. Which I suppose it what makes me a good facilitator, so I haven't forgotten I just compartmentalized it as a work skill?)

Professionals do this: therapists have therapists, massage therapists get massages, social workers consult each other, Civil Rights activists literally invented "self-care" and "kitchen table activism" because they were necessary to sustain the movement.

As a professional, I'm pretty liminal (but as a liminalist, I'm pretty professional?), so it can be hard to find my people. ( (Tangent about people drifting apart.) ) The best thing I can do is accept their terms and hope they change some day. That in itself is a form of holding space for someone.

Anyway, if anyone ever wants to connect about holding space in bleak times, HMU.