venuss,

I've been struggling to respond, because I didn't want to inadvertently insult you.

I think the work you're doing is incredibly important even if it is hard, stressful, and potentially dangerous.

When I was in my 20's in university, I got involved in a number of social justice initiatives, particularly one aimed at helping civilians affected by the civial war in El Salvador. We worked with a group of university students in the capital, and did fundraising, to buy and ship medical supplies and food to them. The medical students had set up clinics to treat the civilian wounded. We finally got a twininng agreement signed between my university and the National University of El Salvador. That really helped university faculty stay safe, because it told the gov't that someone outside El Salvador cared about what happened to them.

I was involved in a bunch of other stuff, but the El Salvador project was my main one.

What I found it did, was change my mindset and made me uncomfortable with people who weren't social activists. It was like I couldn't be bothered with everyday nicities when there was so much evil going on in the world, that had to be dealt with. And I couldn't understand why everyone wasn't as interested in social justice issues as I was.

It was hard, it was emotionally satisfying but disconnecting at the same time.

I'm not saying give up all your Ukrainian focussed activities, they're obviously too important to you. But could you find a way to give yourself a break once in a while from always thinking about it. Take a day or a night off and do something to soothe your soul and make you feel better. I don't know what that would be for you, for me it would be taking my knitting to a fancy coffee shop and having a designer coffee and just sitting around knitting while drinking coffee.

Trust me, the movement isn't going to collapse just because you take a short break to recharge. Remember you're not going to be able to help anyone out if you're burnt out.

Take care of yourself.

splitimage