Self-Care A-Z: Rage, Joy, Justice, and Self-Care
by Erlene Grise-Owens, EdD, LCSW, MSW, MRE, lead co-editor of The A-to-Z Self-Care Handbook for Social Workers and Other Helping Professionals
“Why are you so angry?” People who don’t know me well sometimes ask me that question. I respond: I think rage is an expected human response to the insidious injustices of our world. Anyone not angry isn’t paying attention. And, so, I wonder why you are not angry.
Often, those asking that question seem offended or “concerned” about my anger. If they know my work on self-care, they may seem puzzled because they think self-care is supposed to make one blithely happy. This interpretation is yet another self-care myth.
Righteous Rage
“Focused with precision, anger can become a powerful source of energy serving progress and change.”—Audre Lorde
Self-care is not some superficial antidote for injustice. It is not a dismissive distraction from oppression. In many ways, wholistic self-care is a human right. We have the right and, thus, also, the responsibility to care for ourselves. Self-care involves more fully and freely experiencing our human-ness. Anger is a part of being human.
My self-care journey includes reclaiming righteous rage. I’ve been studying anger since graduate school. I learned from many teachers. My ethics professor, Henlee Barnette, would storm into class, ranting about a current issue, declaring, “Doesn’t that just make you MAD?!” Even after decades of justice work, Dr. Barnette was intensely angry—as well as hilarious, kind, and brilliant. In my mid-20s, I was enthralled that this man in his 70s could sustain such fiery anger, without burning out. Wanting to emulate his zealous rage (and other characteristics), I took additional elective ethics courses with Dr. Barnette. Assuredly, I became super-duper ethical (wink!) and learned about harnessing righteous rage.
Anger is a potent form of power; as such, it can be (mis)used ineffectively, improperly, and/or harmfully. The fire of fury can incinerate or purify. As Brittney Cooper writes in Eloquent Rage—A Black Feminist Discovers her Superpower, “Rage is great at helping us destroy things…[and] can help us build things.” Anger can be fuel for moving forward and energy to be used in resistance. Like the planned burning of fields to propagate better crops, anger can engender growth.
Self-care includes learning to accept, access, and activate our anger. Gloria Steinem, the feminist icon, says, “The truth will set you free; but, first it will piss you off.” Liberation requires rage. Self-care helps us channel our anger to serve progress and change—for both personal and political purposes.
Just Joy
“Justice is anything that makes way for joy, that makes the condition of joy a possibility again.”—Lacy M. Johnson
For those involved in justice work, our experiences with personal trauma, systemic oppression, and ongoing toxicity provoke anger in particular ways. But, for various reasons, this rage too often becomes a source of shame that festers. It’s often internalized and/or projected in destructive ways. “Burn it down” is a conflagration call. “Burning out” is a common consequence.
However, in Eloquent Rage, Dr. Cooper observes, “Justice is rarely found in the rubble.” Instead, she urges that rage, as a creative force, can generate joy. She writes, “Joy arises from an internal clarity about our purpose. My purpose is justice [which] brings me joy.” In social work (and other justice-seeking professions), people sometimes look askance if we say our work is a source of joy. Somehow, we confuse the seriousness of our mission with a lack of joy. Yet, as Crystal N. Dunivant discovered in her self-care journey, joy fuels the work and feeds the spirit.
Self-Care Synergy
“If we make space for joy alongside our fury, then we are cultivating a deep well of power.”—Ingrid Fetell Lee
Self-care engages an alchemy of righteous rage and just joy. Anger and joy might appear on the surface to be conflicting opposites. Yet, they’re actually complementary yin and yang of our human emotions. Synergistically, as Lee observes, cultivating them as a whole—rather than contradictory—deepens our power. This cultivation requires self-care.
Rage and joy, grief and gratitude, serenity and anguish, disappointment and hope, fear and courage. Self-care helps us traverse the ands of life. By engaging in self-care, we’re present in life’s complexities, whilst honoring our human right to channel righteous rage, claim just joy, cultivate potent power, and cherish whole selves.
Peace, Love, & Self-Care,
Erlene
Dr. Erlene Grise-Owens, EdD, LCSW, MSW, MRE, is a Partner in The Wellness Group, ETC. This LLC provides evaluation, training, and consultation for organizational wellness and practitioner well-being. Dr. Grise-Owens is lead editor of The A-to-Z Self-Care Handbook for Social Workers and Other Helping Professionals. As a former faculty member and graduate program director, she and a small (but mighty!) group of colleagues implemented an initiative to promote self-care as part of the social work education curriculum. Previously, she served in clinical and administrative roles. She has experience with navigating toxicity and dysfunction, up-close and personal! Likewise, as an educator, she saw students enter the field and quickly burn out. As a dedicated social worker, she believes the well-being of practitioners is a matter of social justice and human rights. Thus, she is on a mission to promote self-care and wellness!