International Women's Day 2021 - Susan Danford

As women, choosing our challenges is something we face every day.  Some challenges are unavoidable, such as those we face in the workplace with deadlines, different co-worker personalities, and client demands.  Then there are the challenges we face in our personal lives, juggling competing priorities, and roles such as friend/mother/daughter/sister/partner.  After we meet those commitments, the challenge is finding what is left over for ourselves.  As the saying goes, you can’t pour from an empty cup.

Activist Glennon Doyle writes in her book Untamed several empowering quotes around themes that challenge change. The one that resonates with me this International Women’s Day is:

 “Hard work is important. So are play and nonproductivity. My worth is tied not to my productivity but to my existence. I am worthy of rest”.

In Untamed, Doyle is all about striking the right balance between productivity, restfulness, and having fun. She urges that everyone is worthy of taking time off and without the right balance of the three, there’s really no point in working non-stop.

I’ve realised over the past couple of years that a large part of my self-worth is tied to whether or not I am being ‘productive.’ That doesn’t mean I haven’t been unproductive or spent time procrastinating, but the truth is that there have been so many times I haven’t fully enjoyed the moment in front of me because I was too busy feeling anxious or guilty for all the things I felt like I should be doing. In 2021, I’m making a conscious effort to unlearn this programming and relax - “busy” isn’t a competition, and as women, and men, we need to stop treating it as such.

Susan (second from right) with MODE Darwin staff including Jessica Riley, Rebecca Adams and Shruti Muley.

From my own experience with professional burn out, I have clearer insight now on how to notice the signs that self-care is lacking. 

An important act of self-care that I am very focussed on initiating each week in our Darwin studio, is ensuring my team take time to stop and step away from their desks every Friday afternoon. To relax together in our break room with a drink, and to share some food and conversation as we wind down from the busy week.

It’s during this time that we can initiate casual, but important, conversations about self-care, physical and mental wellbeing and how continuing these conversations will help our team to learn and grow.

This International Women’s Day I #ChooseToChallenge the idea that the busier we are, the more productive and “better” we are, and that we are more fulfilled. 

I #ChooseToChallenge that voice inside which says I shouldn’t take time for myself.

It’s ok to say no to commitments and yes to self-care, I am worthy of that.  These are mindsets that I intend to foster amongst my team of four women and three men.  I remind them regularly that the work will still be there tomorrow, there is no need to be a hero by coming into work when they’re unwell, to use their voices to speak up and be heard, and that we can’t be all things to all people.  As part of reinforcing this within my team, it also helps to reinforce it within myself, that way I can authentically lead
by example.

SUSAN DANFORD, Darwin Operations Manager