3 things you can do right now as a movement guide
If you've been on the internet at all since Donald Trump's inauguration for his new presidential term, you've doubtless noticed a lot of varying reactions -- panic, avoidance, memes, hot takes -- and calls to action that range from concrete, immediate steps to take (get a passport, make a go bag, get involved in mutual aid organizations near you) to suggestions for how to manage your mental health (meditate, go on a social media diet). With Trump signing more executive orders in his first week than the past 15 presidents, threatening to start trade wars and annex territories, and either passively or actively allowing Elon Musk to infiltrate government offices and operations, there has been a truly dizzying array of political activity and upheaval.
Trying to stay engaged amidst a flurry of political change is challenging for anyone; figuring out how to do that while also balancing the demands of daily life is a skill not best acquired on short notice, and one few have mastered prior to now. That doesn't mean, though, that the best course of action is total shutdown or waiting for someone more prepared to offer up a pre-packaged solution. It does mean summoning your preexisting resources to figure out how you can best show up right now, and taking it one step at a time.
Rather than feeling powerless and excluded from action in this moment, instead ask what you can do, and know that that influences what we will do together.
Staying politically grounded as a movement guide
If you've caught yourself thinking "...but I'm just a [personal trainer / yoga teacher / coach / artist / performer / dancer / juggler / bodyworker / etc.]" this is for you. It's easy to feel powerless or helpless or like you aren't the "right type" of person to contribute in this moment, but the truth is that everyone has something to offer, and how you act in this moment can determine the path we chart collectively.
So here are a few things you can do:
Stay Informed
Everyone is understandably feeling the strain of the never-ending firehose of information, and doing any social media marketing for your offerings risks drawing you into cascades of doomscrolling that drain your time, energy, and will to live. However! Staying informed is a responsibility and obligation that you owe to yourself and the communities you serve. Having information is one way to keep people safe, but it also allows you to form a basis for deeper connection with your clients and community. Feeling empathy for someone's struggle starts with understanding the facts of their reality. Having all the information about every situation is simply not possible, but attuning your information environment to the needs of yourself and those you serve is the basis for being able to offer support.
In the last week, for example, executive orders to obliterate gender-based language and erase standards of care or inclusion for transgender people have provoked fears of renewed restrictions on medical care, loss of legal identification, and intensified violence within the prison system. New laws and orders expanding deportable offenses and intensified sweeps by ICE have sent chills through immigrant communities who continue to face arbitrary state violence.
Knowing about these developments and staying apprised of their effects is essential for all types of movers and movement guides. Even if you "only" offer bodywork or personal training services, your clientele and community can be directly impacted. Non-white clients who don't feel safe from racial profiling may not feel safe to travel to in-person spaces for training. Transgender clients may opt out of intake forms that require specifying personal information, or may not be able to disclose not only the terms or names or words that would make them feel safe and supported, but also important medical contraindications, if they are concerned about threats to their ongoing access to care. Staying informed about the political context can and should shape how you design your services, how you gather and store information about your clients and patrons, and how you conduct your offerings in physical and digital spaces.
Staying informed is your responsibility. You may not be able to read every book or article or post, but how you choose your information environment reflects your values — and you need to act like it.
2. Be Vocal, Be Visible
Many will try to chart a "safe" path through this political climate, not saying anything so as not to inflame or upset anyone. But, first of all, I'm here to tell you that there is no safety to be had, or if there is, only relative safety, and only in a limited timeframe. Second of all, I'm here to ask you, if your safety comes at someone's expense, how does that sit with you? Many of us have received messaging about trying to create "neutral" paths or "neutral" spaces where "all" are welcome. I come from academia where there is and has been a very ... robust... debate about what freedom of thought and freedom of speech look like, and how we can be stewards of those spaces and values. Even with exceptional intellectual and philosophical firepower behind that question, though, no academic institution has established a consensus on how to approach this issue precisely because these institutions and spaces are not neutral, no one with academic authority (professors, administrators, etc.) lacks a point of view or has inherent "objectivity," and all perspectives carry with them the weight of social and political power or disenfranchisement.
What I know to be true is that there is no such thing as a "safe" space, and no such thing as "neutrality." Human beings have viewpoints and beliefs and experiences and commitments and relationships that imbue every action we take and every word we speak. The goal cannot be to attempt to mask or obliterate what beliefs those words and actions reveal, but rather must be to have honesty and transparency about what our perspectives are and where our commitments lie, and to make our words and actions align with our actual values.
When talking about taking stances or publicly offering support, especially to marginalized communities, we often hear about the potential harms that can arise. What if posting a pride flag on the office door alienates religious clients or patrons? What if wearing a keffiyeh makes Jewish clients uncomfortable? Certainly you should weigh the needs of the communities you serve in the actions you take, but a robust examination of the risks of stances and beliefs should also encompass the costs or the risk of you keeping your mouth shut and "remaining neutral." Some clients will not feel able to entrust you with information you need to support them or offer your services, or may view your relationship as limited, transactional, and contingent on their silence and unobtrusiveness. Some may not even engage you to offer your services at all -- if you're looking at your roster right now and wondering why every single person on it looks exactly the same, perhaps you have to reckon with the barriers that keep you from supporting the people and communities you purport to value.
Being vocal and visible about who and what you support is not about weighing the dollars and cents of your potential market: it's about determining who and what you value, and standing in that commitment. Being vocal and visible is the first (maybe scary) step. Gone is the halcyon internet era of simply posting a black square on your Instagram grid and calling it a day. Your community needs you to be clear in your commitments, and to follow through with meaningful support.
Be bold in sharing what you believe and who or what you are willing to fight for — being seen and heard for your values is not a liability, it’s an asset
3. Build for the Long-Term
Envisioning longterm strategies or planning for the future are the first things to feel under immediate threat amidst social and political upheaval, but they are essential for determining how to keep our words and actions in line with our values (which, ideally, are not as fickle as the present political moment). Building for the long term in your community and your business first and foremost means being in touch with why you offer the services and support that you do, and what impact you hope to make in offering them. Grounding yourself in this why and what are also steps that you can take in this moment of potential overwhelm in order to chart your path forward.
Now is a good moment to build relationships with others whose offerings are similar (or complementary!) to yours . These relationships can not only to serve as recommendation networks for each other, but also can expand to create enclaves of safety and stability for the individuals and communities you serve. This could start with something small but regular -- perhaps a monthly meet-and-greet for new members, or a quarterly affinity group call -- and build into patchworks of relationships and bonds that sustain you and others through whatever political, economic, and social changes emerge. If you're feeling lost in this moment, think about what you need most -- most likely, there are others needing that too.
Whether you are already taking these steps, or have yet to approach these types of questions in your offerings, I'm here to offer support along the way. If you would benefit from some peer mentorship, whether short term or long term, or your group or collective could use some guidance, you can always find me here and get started.
