If not us, who? If not now, when?

This week's #FEConstellations conversations were focused on our individual endurance. It's getting to the end of the year and everyone is exhausted and just getting through the day. It's so hard to think with tired brains, or find?potentia?in a tired soul. When we get back in the New Year we'll be straight into the wall of stress.

Is being a changemaker too hard? Do we just give up and accept the status quo?

As Rich Wilson knew when he did his?Anti-Hero research?several years ago (and toured with it for ETF), it's great being a changemaker but we need more of us to help change the systems which keep the status quo in place. Changemaking requires flying in?goose formation, watching out for each other and stepping up when someone injures a wing or needs a rest. At the minute, it feels a lot like individuals trying to make change on their own...or teams trying to make change under massive pressure. We painfully know that what we need is community...and what we are unable to prioritise is community.

I recently read about a?workshop?which was deliberately designed to replicate the frustrations of changemaking in public service. The write up is fascinating, though I don't think I would have liked to have participated in the game! I'm slightly wary of tricksy 'set up to fail' activities but I can see there's something really powerful about exposing the - well, ridiculousness - of bureaucracy. We all know it, but it feels overwhelming to try and address.?

There's a lot hidden in plain sight which holds us back. This week's?artefact?is Ruchika Tulshyan and Jodi-Ann Burey's article,?Stop Telling Women They Have Impostor Syndrome. Jodi-Ann and Ruchika got quite a lot of stick for the article, which brings a social dimension into the concept of Impostor Syndrome, shifting the locus from the individual to the pressure placed by 'the system' and its operatives on those of us who don't fit the template for belonging. More succinctly, Dr Muna Abdi describes Impostor Syndrome as 'gaslighting' and Becky Bainbridge of RECLAIM (youth empowerment project, not Laurence Fox political party) refers to it as "ImPOSER Syndrome." What do you think??

So what do we do when it's all overwhelming??

I take heart from other changemakers. Even between doing today's livestream and publishing this article (delayed by a technical hitch), I had a conversation with the fabulous Arv Kaushal. This was the first time we'd talked, and that hour powered up my batteries to see me through at least December! Two changemakers getting to the same place by different routes...that's what FE Constellations exists to enable. So if it's all feeling a little too much, go find?your?changemakers, your?potentia?people. You know who they are and hopefully some of them are right here.?

If not us then who? If not now then when??John Lewis