Well-Being
I am excited to be the new editor of Well-Being, the RC journal that addresses our health and well-being. Health and well-being affect everyone.
I would like to tell you a little about myself. I am the Area Reference Person for the Muddy River Area, which is part of the Boston, Massachusetts, USA, RC Region. I have worked as a registered nurse for the past forty years. For many years I have counseled and paid attention to people, inside and outside of RC, as they figure out how to care for themselves while experiencing a medical challenge.
This past eighteen months I have been leading a support group, as an ally, for RCers who are having long recoveries from COVID. I am coordinating RC health care workers’ support groups that started during the pandemic. I am also leading a monthly class on health, with Chris Hughbanks, for people who are systematically working on an ongoing health struggle. During each class we write about what we are working on so we can remember and continue the work at the next meeting.
One thing is clear in these groups: The oppressive society, especially with advanced capitalism, targets everyone’s body for destruction and makes it hard to think about and prioritize our health and well-being. Exploitation and oppression interfere with putting attention on our well-being and valuing ourselves enough to take the time to care for ourselves.
I am interested in your thoughts. The following are some questions to think, discharge, and write about:
- What have you learned from working on your earliest memories related to your body, an illness, or an injury?
- What have you learned from counseling someone through a medical challenge?
- How has your health been impacted by oppression, capitalism, environmental degradation, the climate crisis, the pandemic?
- Can you think of ways that oppression and mistreatment have caused us to accept limits on our ability to heal?
- How have early struggles involving isolation, defeat, and domination left you vulnerable when it comes to prioritizing your well-being?
- How have you successfully navigated the health care system in your country?
If you want to write something but have feelings about writing, I would love to have a session with you in which we take turns paying attention to each other while we write. Writing is a liberation activity and will move you forward.
I look forward to hearing from you!
agreenwald814@gmail.com
(Present Time 205, October 2021)