While our personal troubles may feel very private to us, they may indeed reflect public issues for society as a whole.
Here’s how. The 60-hour work week becoming the norm in this country for many professionals is regarded as outlandish in other countries that give four-week vacations and expect parents to have time and energy to raise their kids. Emotional abuse at home or work reflects a breakdown of integrity and trust, and when it occurs at work, it reflects a serious deficit in human resource policies. Credit policies that have put many people’s finances under the bus are now discussed in the news and are the subject of intense policy debates in Congress. Inability to concentrate, insomnia, and protracted grief are all symptoms of various mental disorders that can be treated if the person would just be willing to overcome their private shame enough to seek help.
Did I say “mental disorders”? Even the very term conjures up such stigma, blame, and shame that many people experiencing these difficulties don’t get the help they need.
What I’m talking about is called “critical consciousness” — a fancy term to indicate awareness that a private trouble may often reflect a public issue. When we engage in critical consciousness, we critically and consciously relate the private trouble to the larger context and take actions to address them. What allows this situation to even happen? What structures or policies should be in place to correct it? What can be done about it? If more of our private troubles were treated as public issues, there would be much less misery in the world — and a lot more joy and happiness.
From a private trouble to a public issue
In Parts 1 and 2, I talked about the advantages of reaching out to others when we have challenges and offered suggestions of how to find the right people to go to. Going it alone is fraught with difficulties and can keep us stuck. The mind — our mind — that created the problem may not have the requisite information to solve the problem. It often does take a village — having a good support system is essential for self-care. Others can help us make sense of our swirling thoughts and point the way out of the morass.
As you take care of yourself, you may also consider others in the same boat who may be facing similar concerns. This is where you move from the receiving end to the giving back part of the equation. You could help address the issue on a broader scale.
What can you do as just one person? The answer is you don’t do it alone. You join with others.
You can find a group devoted to the issue and volunteer or donate funds. If you feel committed enough, consider mobilizing others to join with you in initiating change. Chapter 7 in Reframing Change is one of many possible references for how to do this.
Candy Lightner famously founded Mothers Against Drunk Driving when her daughter was killed by a drunk driver. Employees all over the country are forming affinity groups to provide support and guidance to people facing similar challenges as themselves. Paul Loeb has written an outstanding book describing person after person who took a stand for a cause they believed in based on private troubles they had been experiencing. His book, Soul of a Citizen, is now in its second release.
State Representative Garnet Coleman, a Texas State Legislator and one of my personal heroes, has made a public service career turning his private trouble of bipolar disorder into public advocacy for mental health treatment. In the process, he has garnered many awards and recognition for his outstanding and unwavering support for this cause.
I feel passionate about this subject because as a former community organizer, I have seen how transformative it can be when people join together with others around a cause that they believe in. It happened to me. Now, in my organizational work, I see it over and over again when teams work together to figure out how they can make positive changes in their sphere of influence.
You don’t have to found an organization to convert a private trouble into a public issue. All you need are others with whom you can join or who will join you in figuring out what might be done. Any action, large or small, can help. As Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
Have you had a transformative experience by joining with others to advance a cause or a group that you believed in?
To read Private Troubles, Public Issues, Part I, click here.
To read Private Troubles, Public Issues, Part II, click here.
Tagged with: critical consciousness • self care
Filed under: achieving your goals • conscious use of self • influencing others • making positive changes
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What strikes me through all these threads is the need for transparency. Right now it’s a political buzzword, but when you think about it, sharing thought processes and red herrings gets us to the core issue a lot faster. I believe there’s so much shame and embarrassment about being wrong that we hide anything that might end up making us look foolish.
So the first step, I would think, is to establish an environment where any thought is acceptable and no one is judged. Takes longer up front, but it yields great results.
What do you think?
I agree with the need for transparency and especially with sharing thought processes and minimizing shame and embarrassment. An open question for me, though, is how much the environment does it to us and how much we do to ourselves. I have seen people in workshops and classes get acutely embarrassed at something they said and no one else thought a thing about it. On the other hand, I have seen people look shocked at something someone else to the extent that I had to remind people of our agreement to allow for transparency. It’s a real conundrum.
I have had an opportunity to work diverse settings for-profit and non-profit agencies). I think that the smaller the group of employees the more able the team members are to be vulnerable, trust, and share private struggles. The ability to trust team mates is the corner stone of a functional team.
I wonder if the above type environment is replicable in larger agencies and corperations with hundreds of employees and top down management…
Reading what both Carole and TRH have to say, I am wondering about whether being vulnerable, trusting, and sharing private struggles as TRH describes also requires not being judged as Carole is saying. Just as we do automatically label people (see my previous post on whether it’s okay to label people), I think we also do judge people — in the sense of assessing what they say and how they act.
Carole, what do you mean by “not judging people”?
TRH, do you believe that in the smaller groups of employees that you describe people are NOT being judged?
Maybe we can refine the concept of “judging”.
TRH, that’s a wonderful question. My experience is that such an environment can be created in larger organizations by leaders who willing to accept responsibility and create positive change in their sphere of influence. In effect, they create an oasis of effective, mutually beneficial relationships in their arena.
I can only give you an example for “not judging.” Jean, you and I have often worked with a suggestion or statement, chewing on it, asking questions, going over it multiple times, and processing the heck out of it before we agree. The process requires trust and patience. I’m not sure I would do this in a group, even with you as the trusted catalyst, and I’m danged sure not going to try this in a larger group in any other context. Most of us get so annoyed with people whose processing style differs from ours.