This post was originally published June 21, 2018
There are days when the world feels like it’s on fire — and not in the metaphorical, Beyoncé-at-the-Met-Gala kind of way.
No, I mean actually burning. Tumultuous. Terrifying. Relentlessly loud and exhausting.
You know the feeling: the tightness in your chest, the existential fatigue, the bone-deep ache that something is profoundly off.
In these moments, here’s what I want you to remember:
Nest.
Yes, really. Nest – fiercely, fabulously, and without apology. Tend to your home and it will tend to you.
“Home is where one starts from.” ~ T.S. Elliott
I’m not here to catalogue the horrors. You already know them.
They’re in your feed, in your group chats, on every glowing screen.
But here’s the truth most people won’t tell you:
You are allowed to retreat.
Not forever.
Not to bypass.
But to fortify.
Because if you want to stay in the long game — the game of dismantling systems, of showing up for justice, of being a light in the bloody dark —
you’re going to need fuel. Not just fury.Let’s call it the Activist’s Oxygen Mask Protocol:
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Surrender.
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Soothe.
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Smite.
Step One: Surrender
You are not in charge of the planet.
What you are is one exquisitely powerful individual with a finite amount of energy.
So once you’ve donated, voted, shared the post, made the call, and wept in the bath — let go.
Stop.
Just for a moment.
Let yourself fall into stillness, without guilt.
Step Two: Soothe
This is not self-care as distraction.
This is self-care as a revolutionary act.
Turn off the headlines. Turn up the Ella Fitzgerald.
Wrap yourself in softness. In beauty. In deliberate tenderness.
Light a candle and remember who you are.
Make soup like your great-grandmother would.
Let your home rise up to meet you.
It wants to.
You were not designed to be a 24/7 witness to atrocity.
Your nervous system is sacred. Treat it accordingly.
Step Three: Smite
Only now do we smite. This is where the spell-craft begins.
I’m not suggestion Zelda-esque sword-swinging, as tempting as that might be.
We will smite, not with swords, but with sovereign action.
Smite those dust bunnies, last night’s dishes, the leftover craft project on the dining table.
Make your bed with intention.
Sweep the floor like you’re clearing a path forward.
Clean your mirrors so you can look yourself in the eyes and say, “I know who I am.”
Your home is not a passive backdrop. It’s a co-conspirator.
Every movement — every wipe, scrub, tidy and polish — becomes a declaration:
I am not powerless.
I am not defeated.
I am preparing.
This is Intentional Nesting – a practice, a ritual, and in times like these, a lifeline.
Do not discount the potency of house-magic, just because you’ve always seen cleaning as a chore.
Cleaning your nest can be both symbolic and literal.
You get to decide what each and every action ‘means’.
Every spell in history is made up of an intention + action. Many’s the wise woman who alchemized her floor sweeping into the sweeping away of troubles and troublesome people.
“As above, so below. As within, so without.” – The Emerald Tablet
If you’re craving a deeper relationship with your home – not just as shelter, but as sanctuary, as spell –
you’re invited.
This is the work I do.
This is the alchemy I live.
And I’d be honoured to walk with you, as you turn your house into a haven and your rituals into a revolution.
Because Activism begins at home, and home is where you return to your power.
Surrender. Soothe. Smite.
And then? Rise.
Activism begins at home, in many more ways than one.
Bliss-ings,
Photo by Mitchell Orr on Unsplash
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