Prioritized Imperfection
Charting a Personal Map for Divesting from the Overculture
My praxis is imperfect.
I offer as evidence the fact that I am posting my writing on Substack, a platform that undeniably has problematic elements. These elements are decidedly inconsistent and incompatible with both my values and my vision for a better future.
I also do so while immersed in a context, timeline, and sadistically violent overculture that is so thoroughly interwoven with every single aspect of life that it is virtually impossible to survive without becoming an active participant in the systems of harm oneself.
And so it is that I—along with all other people who aspire to live intentionally in alignment with the values of collective liberation—make choices in which I balance my access points, levels of privilege (and lack thereof), skills, vulnerabilities, disabilities, accessibility accommodations, geographic and social locations, etc. etc. alongside my values.
In these choices, I hold myself accountable for doing progressively better, for continuing every day to take steps in the direction of a future in which I am less complicit with the harmful forces of the white supremacist capitalist overculture.
I simultaneously hold myself accountable for directing the energy I have as skillfully as possible. The time for frantic flailing is long gone: these are times that call for strategy and intention.
As such, I do my best to be honest with myself about where my skills, access points, and positionality uniquely equip to make a positive difference in my relationships, communities, and interactions with the more-than-human world… and to allow what I find in this honesty to guide my choices about where and how I show up.
It is actually through the intersection of these two lists that I decided to return to posting to Substack, despite my recognition of the ethical shortcomings of the platform. Let me explain:
It occurred to me that it would be a helpful process for me to articulate some of my priorities for disentangling myself from some of the most problematic aspects of capitalism in a very concrete, bulletpoint way.
Furthermore, I realized it would be beneficial for me to similarly articulate my understanding of where I can improve on having my skills/access points/positionality be more skillfully focused on the goals and values that are aligned with collective liberation.
I offer to you all the examples of my first draft of these lists. I consider this a living list: I am aware that it is currently imperfect. It will inevitably change and shift as I learn more and as integration of each new habit enables me to explore the next steps that then open for me.
Priorities for disentangling myself from some of the most problematic aspects of capitalism:
Wherever possible, prioritize finding alternatives to spending money.
When that is impossible, prioritize spending money with individuals, comrades, and collectives rather than companies and corporations.
Wherever possible, find options to create ongoing access to something we regularly use versus having a recurring expense.
E.g., seed saving, establishing populations of edible and medicinal plants, building soil health versus purchasing amendments, reusing and repurposing materials, moving away from streaming services and towards physical media and owned digital files, etc. etc.
Validate efforts to need to spend money less as being equally valid as those that create opportunities to make more money. There will be times when only one or the other is accessible: the value of my labor is not solely defined by how profitable it is or is not.
Divest fully from Amazon and all of its affiliated sites, apps, and platforms.
Continue the process of getting off of Instagram (my last remaining Meta app) and TikTok.
Continue the process of transitioning away from Google, and replacing the services I have used through Google with more secure options (e.g., double encryption). Similarly, continue to work on getting the folks I know who still use SMS to solely communicate with me through Signal.
Continue supporting the BDS movement in purchasing decisions. Continue seeking out information relating to the companies that this pertains to, and integrate this new information into my purchasing decisions.
As an herbalist, horticulturalist, and Reiki practitioner who simultaneously believes that all people deserve access to food and opportunities for healing: offer all items related to food and healing on a pay-what-you-can (even if that is nothing) basis. In other words: refuse to deny people access to the things that are essential to life in the interest of capitalism.
Where I can improve on having my skills/access points/positionality be more skillfully focused on the goals and values that are aligned with collective liberation:
Long-form and creative writing are practices that I love. I also have some degree of skill where it comes to wordcrafting. Share this more, and share it more broadly. Let my written voice be seen and known.
Don’t put myself in high-spoons-expenditure situations unnecessarily and/or without strategic intention.
Every time I do this, I deplete the energy I have available to give to growing edible and medicinal plants, making food and medicine to share, connecting with comrades, writing in ways that create opportunities for connection and inspiration, and all of the other activities and praxis points where I can use my energy most skillfully, effectively joyfully, and accessibly.
Create increased opportunities for connecting with others who are also committed to the work of building a better future.
This is true for digital manifestations of community every bit as much as it does local, in-person communities.
This means letting more folks know about a values-led Discord community that I am the “pirate captain” of.
It won’t be a good fit for all people, so it’s for sure a vetted space that I tend with a lot of love and intention.
And also: it’s a literally magical space for those who it is a good fit for, so please don’t hesitate to lmk if you are interested in finding out if that includes you.
Do something every single day that creates concrete, observable change in the interest of collective liberation.
By providing these lists, I do not in any means mean to imply that your lists would or should have the same items on them that mine do. Each person has to do their own complicated calculus to determine how to survive within the context of white supremacist capitalism while also working to divest from it and build more compassionate alternatives.
Some folks have been on this path a lot longer than I have been, and may roll their eyes at some of the changes that I still haven’t completely integrated into my life.
Others will look at my lists and feel overwhelmed at the thought of the many barriers that exist between their lives and situations and the ability to make the changes I outlined.
Meanwhile, it is likely that there are some changes I have made (but didn’t think to enumerate, or that I intentionally left off in the interest of achieving some amount of brevity) that folks in the first group would find prohibitive.
And, of course, there will be folks in the latter group who have found ways of subverting the dominant paradigm that I haven’t even conceived of and/or that would be currently inaccessible for me.
Which is to say: I do not wish for me posting this to create any sort of ethical hierarchy.
Rather, I am posting it as a concrete example of what these lists can look like, which may inspire some of you to explore what your lists look like at this moment in time.
What are some of the things on your lists?
And what are some of the other lists have you all found helpful in your path towards discovering accessible and sustainable praxis?