Jacinda Ardern's resignation affects community leaders everywhere
"What does the New Zealand PM have to do with me?" Come hither, friends.
Hi friends! You might have forgotten who I am since it’s been a hot minute. I’m Nivi Achanta, community builder and party sorceress extraordinaire. Yes, those are self-proclaimed terms, but also, I got featured in the Washington Post for my excessive extroversion, so ha!
I write free community building guides from time to time. My hope is that you can learn from my successes and laugh at, then learn from, my mistakes.
Today, we’re talking ✨politics✨. Hee hee!
I try to not fangirl any politician. But from this safe distance, I can say at least: Jacinda Ardern is a total badass.
If you don’t know her, Jacinda Ardern has led New Zealand as Prime Minister for almost 6 years.
Here’s a lil more about her:
Ardern became the world’s youngest female head of government when she was elected prime minister in 2017 at 37. She has led New Zealand through the Covid-19 pandemic, and a series of disasters including the terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, and the White Island volcanic eruption.
And, less than 24 hours before I started writing this post, she announced her resignation.
The world did not see it coming.
A politician, resigning?! At a young age of below-90 years old?! Who does that?! and WHY??
Jacinda tells us her answer: burnout.
She tells the world:
I’m leaving, because with such a privileged role comes responsibility – the responsibility to know when you are the right person to lead and also when you are not. I know what this job takes. And I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice. It’s that simple.
Not that she needs it, but Jacinda has my full respect. It takes a lot of courage to quit a job like this on your own terms and admit you “no longer have enough in the tank”. Haters on the internet have called it weak, but I think it’s an extraordinary display of strength.
And it matters to community leaders anywhere.
We NEED to talk about how to take care of ourselves as community builders.
Yeah, self-care is a topic that’s popped up everywhere in the 2020s, but I want to reflect on my own experiences.
I’m simply going to leave you with two thoughts today. Each links to an article I wrote with some tips/experiences/recs:
I reeeeeeaaaally think we need larger conversations around self-care and boundaries for community builders. I recently spoke about this on the Moodally Matters podcast (below), and I’m grateful for every person that has paved the way for this topic to be explored, stigma-free.
Self-care isn’t just a buzzy bath bomb concept. Not to be dramatic, but it’s literally a matter of life or death. It’s not all under our control, and a lot of issues that weigh us down are systemic, but I hope that we can change the things we can control.
Let’s start with healthy routines, rituals, and boundaries (and if you work for a company, think about investing some of that professional development budget in yourself, truly).
I have no brainpower to write a proper conclusion to this post so I’ll just see ya next time. I hope you enjoy the articles. Reply here if you have any thoughts and we can unpack together. Ok bye!