Advocacy

[The song for this post is Good as Hell by Lizzo]

As an educator, I have always felt as though the work I do with students, for students, centers most often around advocacy. 

Within student conduct I have often had to advocate for students when they are on the verge of having to leave the institution. Other times the advocacy centers around their ability to return to the classroom due to their previous behavior. In either situation I try my best to advocate for the student sitting in front of me. I advocate for them when they are unable to advocate for themselves anymore but also when I know my position holds power to advocate on their behalf. 

So then why is advocating for myself so difficult? 

What I realized in the last year was that I wasn’t as comfortable as I thought with advocating for myself in all situations. 

When it came to advocating for my students I never hesitated but when it came to advocating for myself it truly came down to the circumstance. 

Over the course of 2019 more and more instances called for my ability to advocate for myself. I had to step up to the plate and advocate for not only what I wanted but truly what I needed. Thankfully, most times others listened and worked with me to make sure I got what I needed, but there were of course certain situations where what I needed was ignored. Not only ignored, but blatantly disregarded. 

Moments where my most basic human needs were ignored. In those moments it did not matter how much I advocated for myself because the individuals involved in making sure I got what I needed didn’t care to hear what I was saying. Even with the power they held they refused to hear me and make sure I got what I needed. 

It was as if the words I used, no matter how they were phrased, didn’t even register. And although I always knew that advocacy sometimes centered on truly hearing what the person in front of you needed so that you could advocate for what they needed, it didn’t register on the conscious level until I was placed in a situation where the people in front of me didn’t listen to what I needed. 

It was in that situation that I realized that if I didn’t take steps to advocate for what I needed for myself nobody else would. The power was in my own hands. 

And so I did. I made changes for myself in 2019 that were necessary for my overall well being and self care. I’m so happy I did. 

As this new decade begins I make sure to advocate for what I need. I also try to remember to truly listen to what others, including my students, are telling me they need so that when I have the power to advocate I use it to advocate for what they are telling me they need. 

After all if I don’t advocate for what I or they really need, then what happens if nobody else does either?

[Photo by Engin Akyurt from Pexels]