A toolkit for SADness

~ Mehret Biruk ~ Leave a comment
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Photo by Walid Amghar

Winter is my least favorite season. I really don’t trust people who claim winter to be their favorite season. While I appreciate how beautiful a fresh snowfall can be, the bitter cold, the ungodly short days, and the inability to enjoy most outdoor activities make winter my least favored time of the year.

Finally having realized that I do not do well in the winter months, at least emotionally, and I cannot afford to escape to a tropical destination, I decided to create a SAD survival toolkit this winter. Before I share what is in my SAD toolkit, I would like to begin with a brief introduction of SAD. Continue reading “A toolkit for SADness” →

10 radical self-care ideas

~ Mehret Biruk ~ Leave a comment
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“I just be eatin’, poopin’, chillin’, and cuddlin’ with the humans.” – Bach on his radical self-care routine

As I admitted in a previous post, I am obsessed with radical ideas.

There is certainly no shortage of self-care ideas to browse through on the World Wide Web, advising us to meditate, walk-in nature, or get a massage, body scrub, facial or book yourself into a spa for a day or weekend to practice self-care.

I’m very indulgent when it comes to self-care, and I, too, love spending $7 Starbucks latte to treat myself, although I cannot get into meditation to save my life, and prefer the unconventional approach when it comes to practicing self-care.

Below are 10 radical self-care ideas I practice and find to be the most useful, in no particular order of importance.

1. Make a list of personal policies to live by: One of my personal policy for 2019 is that, moving forward, I will only tip based on service, and not just to avoid being stereotyped.

It is extremely demeaning to tip after receiving inferior service just to avoid contributing to the stereotype. While on the topic, avoiding certain establishments where I feel un-welcomed at is also part of the list. Not my money, bish.

WATCH: How to set Personal Policies for a Better 2019

What are some personal policies you want to implement in your life? Continue reading “10 radical self-care ideas” →

Radical youth work: what happened to the revolutionary potential of youth work?

~ Mehret Biruk ~ Leave a comment
Love What You Do and Do What You Love poster
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

When I was doing my undergraduate studies, I was very certain that, after attaining my marketable degree, I would lead the revolution that would bring capitalism to its final graveyard. My twitter handle read, ‘Karl Marx is my baby daddy,’ and I was determined to make him proud.

Disclaimer:  I still have not read the Capitalist Manifesto,*eeks!*, although a copy of it has a special space on my bookshelf.

Such rage was induced via a one-hour lecture on Marx I attentively listened to in my second-year social movements class.  I was, and still am, your typical rage-fueled, poorly informed, whiny millennial.

Disclaimer: however, since then, my views on capitalism have drastically changed. 

With a year of graduate school left, and the threats of actually having to start making payments on my student loan debt nearing, I realized the golden days of daydreaming about the revolution was coming to an end. I knew the revolution will not pay my debt or my bills, so I needed a “realistic career goal.” Continue reading “Radical youth work: what happened to the revolutionary potential of youth work?” →

A short introduction to youth peer support

~ Mehret Biruk ~ Leave a comment
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Photo by Camille Orgel on Unsplash

Peer support is sort of my jam, it is something I feel knowledgeable and very passionate about.

It began back in 2014 when I got the opportunity to volunteer as a Peer Counselor at the Peer Support Centre during my undergraduate studies. After I completed graduate school, I landed a position working as a Youth Engagement Project Coordinator for a children’s mental health hospital to create a peer-based mental health program for youth in the community.

Continue reading “A short introduction to youth peer support” →

Digital wellness for beginners

~ Mehret Biruk ~ Leave a comment
wrecked iphone
Photo by Skitterphoto on Pexels.com

At the peak of the proliferation of smartphones and social media and the attention economy, our attention has become the most valuable commodity. In order to profit from our attention, companies employ tactics to hijack our attention and keep us glued to our smartphones, scrolling mindlessly through our newsfeeds and watching cat memes all day long. According to some statistics:

  • The average American checks their phone every 12 minutes,
  • The average user touches their cell phone 2,617 times a day, and
  • In a 2014 survey, 46 percent of users said their smartphone is something “they couldn’t live without.”

What is digital wellness? 

Digital Wellness is a movement that seeks to establish a holistic and unified approach to tackling the challenges and issues faced by individuals, and society at large, at the proliferation of the attention economy. The movement seeks a “fight fire with fire” approach by using tactics such as creating apps that help us manage the amount of time we spend on our digital activities. Continue reading “Digital wellness for beginners” →

4 productivity tips for youth workers

~ Mehret Biruk ~ 1 Comment
printed sticky notes glued on board
Photo by Daria Nepriakhina on Unsplash

Happy New Year!

One of my major goals for the new year is to be consistently productive and work on advancing my career as a youth worker, writing more for my blog, and creating more opportunities to grow professionally and personally. #CareerGoals!

Youth workers provide a vital service to young people and the communities that they serve, and studies show that one of the best indicators for job satisfaction is finding work that helps others.

RESOURCE: 80000hours.org provides career advice for people who want to have a social impact.

Continue reading “4 productivity tips for youth workers” →