Is Lack of Self-Care Another Form of Scarcity Mindset?

Sks811, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22767515

How many of us know a museum where the mantra--even in this post-COVID reawakening--is one of can't, meaning an absence of resources prevents the organization from changing? It's a mindset that's riddled museums and heritage organizations for decades, often those founded in a great rush of concern around preserving a particular building, event or individual collection. What begins as promise, excitement, and hope devolves into a culture of "Well we can't (you fill in the verb here) because this is the way we've always done it." The result is museums turned inward rather than out, clinging to the familiar rather than walking a path toward change. In this kind of culture, struggle and sacrifice become virtues. Doing without, frenetically working to maintain a mediocrity no one cares about becomes the norm, inverting healthy museum behavior. Instead, work becomes a virtue, and in the worst cases, a loyalty test. It's brutal, and it's unhealthy both organizationally and individually.

Don't get me wrong. Even paranoids have enemies. As the country emerges from the pandemic and the concurrent economic downturn, many museums and heritage organizations, opening their doors for the first time, have more than enough PTSD to go around. And, if we're to believe AAM's studies, one in three of them will find themselves working through the myriad state regulations in order to close rather than grow. But one of COVID's counter-intuitive blessings is that it's given all of us a hinge moment, a fork in the road, an opportunity to ditch what didn't work and start again differently.

Do you work in an organization where scarcity is the love language? How has it affected you? And by that I don't mean are you underpaid or under-benefited? That's another blog post. What I mean is has that culture started to affect you as a person? Have you developed a kind of "Don't worry about me, if I fall, I fall" philosophy? How's that working for you? When you read yet another piece about self care, do you secretly think, "Well, that's not for us. We simply have too much on our plate?"

And yet who among us doesn't benefit from a good night's sleep, regular exercise, good nutrition, close friends, great music, laughter, you name it, all the things that refresh, recharge and sustain us. And sustaining us--leaders and their museum, archive and heritage teams--is key to building organizations better able to respond, rebuild, and change now we've arrived at the post-COVID fork in the road. So if you're a leader of a museum or leading a museum team or program, consider the following:

Do away with running on empty and acknowledge the importance of time spent on self: Spend five minutes in a staff meeting and ask everyone to report one thing they've done that counts as self-care.
Are you and your team drinking enough? No, not the after work kind, the hydration kind. Sounds dumb, but adults often don't drink enough. Hydration affects mood, memory and attention. Many sites have closed water fountains because of COVID. Sitting down for a meeting? Provide water.
Vacation: Make it happen. No need to reiterate that it's been a difficult and challenging year. For many Summer 2020 was either spent worrying in Zoom meetings or trying (and failing) to open or reopen. Americans are among the most overworked people in the world. If your organization offers paid vacation, make sure you (and your team)take what's coming to them.
Don't forget to mentor or just engage with colleagues. Research shows that helping others, being empathetic, engaging in active listening as opposed to quick fixes, helps you as well.
Take a moment: It's almost summer. Go outside. As masks come off, plenty of folks are still experiencing COVID anxiety. Having a walking meeting or meeting outside may do your team a world of good.
Don't forget about you. It's easy for leaders to model behavior they don't actually follow themselves--to ask after their team's well being, to empathize, to advocate for personal time, to make sure they leave in time for the final soccer game, kindergarten graduation, whatever, but harder to advocate for themselves. Try not to leave yourself out. There's no virtue in a leader who's chronically tired and emotionally drained.

Staying at work for 12-hour days is not a guarantee of productivity. Sometimes we just need to press pause. We all contribute--to our relationships, workplaces, and families--and to be good contributors we need to care for ourselves. That means making time to stop. A colleague, who's a busy parent to three small humans, told me one of her new practices is rather than saying "Oh crap, I need to clean the bathroom," she now sets her timer for 15 minutes, and does as much cleaning as she can before the timer goes off. That can work for self care too. Take 15 minutes and do what you need to do even if it's nothing. You'll be better for it, and maybe you'll start to break the facade of self-sacrifice at your organization.

Be well, stay safe.

Joan Baldwin