How we transform despair into good trouble
Caregiver burnout is so 2020
Hi friends!
Uuuugugghhhh I HATE THIS but whatever I’m just gonna jump in and get it over with!
I like that you’re working to change the world!
To keep you going, I make free things for you so your job, and life, and whole parenting… deal is just, y’know - easier.
Coordinating all this stuff on my own is exhausting and often thankless and frankly terrible at paying the bills. Also it’s weirdly piecemeal, and there’s no cohesive way to pull it together and be like “BUT ALSO - HERE IS HOW TO NOT FALL APART WHILE THE WORLD IS CRUMBLING!”
(Which suprisingly, I actually know how to do!)
So I created these things called ‘Seasonal Collectives’ - where we narrow our floodlights into laserbeams and stop doing all the saviorisms and the burnouts and cut out the performative activism stuff.
You know, just work more efficienctly and with joy and also in a less isolated and ‘throw everything we have at all the problems and cross our fingers but also just weep all the time.’
In the Summer, we get super clear on who we help and how. Frankly, it’s life-changing, joy-bursting work and I love every freakin’ second of it. I’m so sad that you’ve missed it, and I hope you join us next year.
And then in the winter, we pull that focus inward - getting honest about who we are. Like - all the baggage and burnout we juggle as activists and caregivers. And we get in our own way and cause more harm. So we can cut out our own nonsense and clear a better path for our kids and also smash the kyriarchy along the way.
What’s different about the Winter Incubator and Summer Accelerator is that unlike my toolkits and articles and all those other resources is - I ask folks to reciprocate.
As in - show up and be in community with me so I don’t feel like I’m screaming into a void? (I get very lonely in the silence! It’s pathetic!) And maybe, if you can, please consider paying me for my very extensive - but also raucous fun - and probably a little too much labor?
But alas - none of this is sustainable without some way to support the work of Books for Littles and Raising Luminaries.
So our Seasonal Collectives are both a way for you to get the deeply necessary scaffolding you need to change the world and also a way to enter into a reciprocal community with me. ‘Cause we don’t do transactionalism here, but we do do radical generosity and interdependent collective action.
(There’s way more to it that I will tell you about - but this is the endless conundrum of keeping all the good stuff behind a paywall. Excruciating!)
So this is my way of awkwardly word-vomiting an announcement that the Winter Incubator is now available for enrollment if you want to do more than just consume the stuff I keep hurling your way.
Come hang out with me and a couple of other people deeply dedicated to healing the world - while we hold space for each other, find creative solutions to our boring everyday challenges, and turn everything we thought we knew upside down so we can do AMAZING THINGS TOGETHER.
Seriously - this world kind of sucks, but imagine how amazing it could be.
I know how to get there, but I can’t do it alone.
Join the Winter Incubator
This January, we explore:
How to end the cycle of spiraling into despair, guilt-tripping ourselves into action, and lashing out at those we care about most
How to resist hustle culture and martyrdom so we’re more pleasant to be around
The perks (but also baggage) that come with ancestry, identity, and culture, and how to forge a new path for our kids
Pacing, boundaries, and self-advocacy tools to maintain activism and parenting without becoming a burden on society
We need your voice, insight, and reflections to make this a success.
Four spots left. We’d love to flex around your schedule if you sign up ASAP. If cost impacts your ability to pay bills or maintain your donations, use the sliding scale.**
Coming up next
Since we’ve got so much going on this Winter, I’ll be emailing you THRICE a month with news and updates so you don’t miss out.
Hit ‘reply’ or leave a comment - I’d love to hear your concerns and hesitations about joining us this winter.
Seriously - your insight helps me tweak the collective to be more accessible for caretakers like you.
(Also I get lonely and hate shouting out into a silent void aaaaaaahhhh!)
with you,
Ashia
** YES, ACTUALLY USE THE DAMN SLIDING SCALE. I say this as a person who always pays full price even when I probably shouldn’t because of internalized capitalism. Unless you’re like second-home-vacation-rich (in which case :::raised eyebrow::: why aren’t you already paying me?) that’s what it’s there for! If the cost is the only thing holding you back, USE IT!