A look at recent news headlines may have made you feel discouraged and wonder if any of your activism activities are making a genuine difference. This downtrodden feeling is often referred to as activism fatigue. It can often occur when you don’t practice sufficient self-care strategies, but there are several ways to remedy it. For example, you might broaden your support network or limit the amount of time you spend browsing the day’s news — especially that which covers traumatic topics.
However, even if you’re temporarily cutting down on your involvement in activism to allow yourself time to recuperate, you can still do your part to change the world for the better. One effective way to do that is to research and support international charities.
They Allow You to Do Good From a Distance
One of the positive factors of international charities is that they potentially allow you to be involved in a charity that matters to you while still keeping a safe distance from a given cause in an effort to not make your activism fatigue get worse. For example, you might visit the website of an international charity and set up a donation that gets taken directly from your bank account each month. Then, you’re giving meaningful and ongoing contributions without becoming too involved.
You Can Take Time to Do Adequate Research
Although most international charities operate with honesty and good intentions, there are still some associated with undesirable dealings. That’s why it’s important to thoroughly research any charity before supporting the organization. Then, it’s easier to spot evidence of scams and request information from the entity that confirms its validity.
However, when you take part in an activism event in your community by attending a march, fundraiser, or another kind of awareness-boosting effort, it’s not always immediately evident that the cause or organization associated with it is legitimate. If it turns out it isn’t, you may feel even more exhausted than ever, especially if your involvement in the event is highly controversial and makes your friends think differently about you than they once did.
It’s Possible to Help Without Leaving Home
Many representatives from international charities are aware people may like to give their support but that things like lack of transportation, a disability, or having young kids could make that impossible. To appeal to those individuals, they often facilitate ways to volunteer for a charity without going to a physical location.
For example, you may be able to log into an online interface and make calls to people in your community to request donations or get access to an organization’s social media accounts to help spread the word about upcoming events. When contributing in these ways and similar ones, you may find it’s easier to set boundaries and only support charities if doing so doesn’t have too many adverse effects on your obligations and lifestyle.
One of the reasons why people initially experience activism fatigue is that they let their passion for a cause get to an all-consuming level. When that happens, they often spend less time with friends and family members or forget to do basic things like shop for groceries and get enough sleep. However, home-based volunteering options typically allow people to sign up for dedicated time slots, which could make it easier to strike a balance between giving back and other aspects of life.
International Charities Let You Support People in Influential Positions
Despite having a desire to contribute to charities as often as possible, you may not feel your influence is great enough to have lasting impacts. Fortunately, numerous people who hold prominent positions use their influence to set up charities and aid worthy causes in other ways.
One of them is Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva. She is Uzbekistan’s permanent delegate to UNESCO and is responsible for promoting world peace through collaboration. She’s established two charities in Uzbekistan, both of which support kids in need.
If you are not able to provide direct support to a charity due to activism fatigue or any other reason, consider learning more about significant people who’ve decided to capitalize on the awareness others have of them by showing constant generosity. Because those individuals frequently have so many resources available to them, you may find that supporting at least one of those people allows you to do much more than would be possible on your own.
You Could Take Periodic Trips to a Country
People sometimes fight activism fatigue by deciding they still want to stay involved in a cause but do so with less-frequent and targeted approaches. You may discover that a charity you love offers yearly trips for donors interested in seeing how their money gets used. If you’re associated with an international charity that provides such trips, you can stay involved without committing to daily or weekly activities.
These are just some of the many ways that you can treat your symptoms of activism fatigue without putting activism on the backburner. By trying them, you could notice long-lasting benefits.
