December 2022 Education Task Force Blog

End-of-year can be a busy time: one of closure, fresh starts, personal engagements, and professional reflection and goal setting. Amidst the hubbub, the Women in Government Relations (WGR) Education Task Force turned its December meeting over to member Dana Weekes for a timely professional development workshop: Centering Ourselves Back in Our Belonging. This blog shares key learnings and insights from that generative conversation.

Dana started the workshop with the invitation to engage beyond our professional titles and roles. Attendees embraced that call wholeheartedly, by listening and sharing experiences that spanned our lived experience: at work, with family, and in our own private time. She set the goal for the meeting to make time and space for us to reflect, adding, “there is power in the pause.”

The first topic of discussion was: how do you rest or care for yourself? Attendees named many examples: we engage within our communities, practice self-care, and find ways to invite peace and stillness in our daily routines. Dana then shared a few personal distinctions:

• Recharge: a response to a specific event that is meant to recharge our energy levels. Recharging feels like trying to “fill my cup,” “fuel the car,” or another action that restores our ability to perform a designated function or role.
• Rest: a form of self-acceptance that enables you to navigate the world through a conscious understanding of yourself. When you rest, you feel safe within your own agency. Rest is a mental state of self-liberation and peace from exercising your agency.

Recharging is essential for success; it enables us to meet the metrics of external expectations and to act in service of others. Resting, by contrast, is required to thrive; it allows us to stand certain in our sense of belonging to engage wholeheartedly in the work we value. We then revisited the ways we rest and care: by these definitions, many of us are practiced in recharging, but have less experience resting. Dana explained that this standard of rest is not normalized, modeled, or incentivized.

How do we know we’re resting? Resting may feel like a strong mind-body connection, safety, lack of internal resistance, and/or a deep sense of self-knowing and awareness. Rest connects us to our purpose, which includes where we stand and what we love.

Dana then transitioned the group to think about why we favor “Type A” behaviors. Many “Type A” people usually resonate within these three categories: (1) overachiever; (2) over planner; or (3) overcommitted. Dana explained when most people talk about being “Type A,” we are actually talking about behaviors that normalize the disconnection between our body and mind. It is important to recognize when our behaviors are reflections of us molding into these categories.

The group then discussed if they are driven by expectations or goals. An expectation-driven mindset sources itself from the need to control, an overactive need for certainty. This type of mindset allows for little to no space for change and shuns a reality where change is the only constant. In contrast, a goal-setting mindset accounts for real possibilities and is a non-linear approach to life and requires step-by-step progress instead of a wholesale approach. It requires you to trust the process and let go of what you cannot control. The group discussed if they believe they have an expectation-driven or goal-setting mindset.

Dana asked the group to write down key commitments they had over the past month and to circle the ones they typically honored. After members shared, Dana reiterated the need for everyone to show themselves grace for the commitments they could not honor.

The discussion concluded by Dana reflecting on what members shared throughout the discussion and reminded members of key takeaways: (1) begin to feel safe exercising your agency; (2) do not source your life from fear; (3) know the coping mechanisms that should not longer serve you; and (4) show yourself grace.

We welcome WGR members to join the Education Task Force meetings on the second Tuesday of each month. Register here for our next meeting on January 24. For more information on the Education Task Force, please reach out to Tara Thomas, Holly Alexander, Adriana Bankston, or Carly Sincavitch.

This blog is authored by Education Task Force Co-Chair Carly Sincavitch and member Larkin Willis.