HOMEcoming’s Mini Radical Sabbatical: Decolonize, Dismantle, Dive Deep

On Accountability and Community Care pt. 2

Discomfort –a state of mind or a state of being? For as long as I can remember, and impart due to the modeling of the Dominican women in my life, living in discomfort wasn’t just a norm, it was the standard. Discomfort in relationships cultivated in machismo; discomfort in a new country that constantly undervalues their personhood and their language while co-opting their food and their “exotic ways;” discomfort in not being black enough or white enough –discomfort became embedded in their bodies and the bodies of their babies and the bodies of their grandbabies. They pushed through it all somehow, there was no other option. And still, the inner turmoil of warding off embodying the stereotypes of being lazy, stealing jobs, or only making babies to live off the government was strooooong.

With this intergenerational grip of discomfort making up my very cells, I continue to work through my genetic makeup that keeps me in a state of complacency with the dissatisfaction of my well-being. Most recently, I learned that I have to have not one, but two surgeries due to some seemingly innocent injuries that I pushed through but evidently have not healed properly. Unbeknown to me, they will not heal with sheer perseverance and an ice pack alone. Upon receiving this news I was shocked, then frustrated, then confused. I thought I had been doing such a good job of resting and tending to myself and noticing what my body had to say and yet, my high threshold for discomfort fooled me once again into a false sense of well-being.

Enter Tricia Hersey:

Ease is your birthright. Unraveling from the constant pace of grind culture will take time. Celebrate this. You have time to reclaim your Divine right to rest. Do not rush this process. This is a lifelong practice. You were born to experience care and rest. You were not born to only be a worker on the clock. There is more to life. There is a way to ease.

Enter my beloved Care Crew:

Guuuurl you betta sit down and ask for help.

As I plan for my recovery time I am already noting some other areas in my life where I continue to push through because it’s what I know. The fact that I am able to notice these areas gives me great appreciation and tenderness for the ever-evolving, Afro-Dominican, openly relating queer woman in me that no longer will sit in discomfort for the sake of others.

If this conversation resonates with you and you’re in the Louisville area and feel called to share in space and conversation, please join us at HOMEcoming’s Mini Radical Sabbatical: Decolonize, Dismantle, Dive Deep Winter Series in 2025, for some tending to Self in community.

I’m looking forward to facilitating thoughtful, strengths-based, spiritually embodied discussion and practices about these questions together. What you discover may have the potential to transmute what no longer serves you, which may in turn prepare you to decolonize, dismantle, and dive deep into our collective potential for healing and liberation. A tall order? Yes, if we are alone. But together we can make lighter this needed work.

My offering to you in our Radical Sabbatical:

· Co-created, sacred space with nourishing snacks and hot tea

· Engaging conversation about the systemic issues we all face together/individually

· Embodied practices you can take with you to ground your daily life

Please do check here for postings on future dates this winter. And if you’d like to have a HOMEcoming Radical Sabbatical experience for your private group or team, I am accepting bookings through 2025.

Mad love and care,

Arlene

P.S.

I welcome you to contemplate and be in conversation with community, reflecting on the questions above in the comments. I’m interested in hearing from you.