10 Hard-Earned Lessons from 10 Years of Tomorrow-Making

Most activists burn out within two years. I’ve been active for ten now.

Like many activists, I began fighting for change with many problematic ideas about how change occurs, what needs to change, and who I need to become to be a part of those changes. And I’ve wanted to do a series about my mistakes as an activist for a long time.

So here are the top 10 lessons I’ve gleaned from fighting the power over the past decade, based on my mistakes. I hope we can all learn from them together.

10. Never stop learning.

Systems of oppression evolve; so our analyses of those systems must evolve too. Our solutions to different crises depend on our understanding of the crises. The more profound our understanding of the crisis, the better positioned we are to choose effective solutions. So we need to stay open to new information.

9. Resistance is a skill we can build.

A popular misunderstanding presents social movements as always spontaneous, fueled by righteous passion alone, and successful because of the rightness of their cause.

The truth is the opposite. Successful movements treat resistance as a skill to be built, not just an reflex. They reflect on their past actions…