Your Presence Matters

"Our Presence Matters"

This phrase came out of a workshop I facilitated for BIPOC educators who'd lost access to a conference that had been their annual space to connect, rest, and be in community with other people of color in independent schools. As we gathered, we acknowledge what was lost while remembering what remains true: their presence matters.

Not just because of what they do for their students. Not because they're "good representation" for white colleagues. Not because they make the school's diversity numbers look better.

Their presence matters because they are human beings worthy of dignity, rest, and care. Period.

Here's what I know happens as it relates to the parts of our identity that are systemically marginalized: we get really good at making our presence matter for other people. We show up for colleagues and mentees who need to see themselves reflected in others. We educate colleagues who should know better. We sit on the committees and do the labor and carry the weight because we're told - or we tell ourselves - that our presence is necessary.

And it is. But that doesn’t mean we have to sacrifice our wellness at all times.

This is especially true as we swim in the current political and economic chaos on top of the everyday challenges that we navigate personally. As we're called on to speak up, show up, support, and comfort, it's critical that we remember our presence matters to ourselves first. We cannot pour from empty cups, and we don't owe anyone our depletion. Protecting our wellness isn't selfish; it’s critical for our survival, sustainability, and our ability to operate in alignment with our values, so we don’t replicate the harm we’re seeking to push back against.

So here's what I want you to sit with this month:

Your presence matters first in your own life. In the lives of the people you love. In the quiet moments when no one's watching and no one's asking anything of you.

What are you doing this month to honor that your presence matters - not because of what you produce, but simply because you exist?

Reflection questions:

• Where am I centering other people's needs for my presence over my own need for rest and care?

• What would it look like to treat my own presence in my life as sacred - not optional, not last on the list, but essential?

I created this coloring page as a way to slow down and reflect on this message. Sometimes we need to literally sit with the words and let them sink in while our hands are busy doing something restorative.

Get the "Our Presence Matters" coloring page linked below. Of course the PDF doesn’t include the watermark 😉

Your presence matters. Don't forget to act like it.

Tamisha

Our Presence Matters Coloring Page

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