December is always a challenge, isn't it?

If it is not about finishing projects, then there is the holiday necessity of being relaxed and happy; and if not that, then the upcoming New Year's Eve or summarizing the finishing year, or making plans for the new one... It’s a never-ending list of "shoulds" and "musts". That is why this Newsletter is intended as: just enjoy the moment, life will catch-up sooner or later anyway.

So for having a moment without any of that December grimness, first let me share my absolute favourite thing of the passing 2018: The Humour.

This year, the first time in my life, I discovered and intentionally learned how important it is not to forget about it, even if it's as natural as breathing. It concerned my personal life (by re-discovering my ability to laugh), but also the activist part of my life. Preparing two events about the current state of democracy, showed me how much we’re lacking humour in our activist life. Or how sometimes it makes it difficult to connect with other people, forcing us to stay formal and official, even if inside our emotions are almost exploding.

My biggest highlight of 2018 in regards to the power of humour and honesty was Nanette by Hannah Gadsby, a Netflix Comedy Special that is so much more than just a stand-up comedy. It’s witty, funny and brilliant, but there is the twist that made 100% approval on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s officially the best thing that 2018 brought. It’s a story of a human, a woman, society and how to stay true to oneself.

Now something very fresh, from MEGAPHONE event in Cluj-Napoca: a podcast exactly about why humour in activism makes sense. If you look for a good company for a walk, I recommend you these guys.

Combining humour with my favourite thing: data visualizations, you can take a look at “The Structure of Stand-Up Comedy” prepared by Pudding. Explaining a joke is, in general, the worst idea, but this is going beyond education, it embraces all the modern technology has to offer when it comes to data visualisation. A delicious piece of info-entertainment.

And since the evenings of the holidays are long, let me add something special about dataviz --  sound visualisation through cymatics. It's also my tip for meditation for all the non-spiritual (or not too much spiritual) people like me. As Evan Grant explains in his TED talk: consider for a moment that sound does have form. We've seen that it can affect matter and cause form within matter. And it is just beautiful (just check this gif here).

And coming back to December, many people’s challenge is dealing with social media. If you want to have the traditional social media detox, I couldn’t recommend more the Data Detox Kit and the recently published bonus for dealing with social media. But as a person who’s many friends live in the internet, I simply don’t want to disconnect completely, and that is why I’m doing my Alternative Social Media Detox. It is about appreciation of the good I get from social media and then making a step forward and letting people know how much they mean to me even if we know each other from the online mostly.

As the last part, coming back to the essence of coaching, and responding to the need of summaries and resolutions, here is my gift to you: 5 short (but not small) questions and one simple (but not easy) recommendation - all in a sparkling glittery form, just because I really couldn’t resist the holiday spirit ;)

And if you ever wonder where is the magic of the season, I can only say, that no matter of the time of the year, kindness is magic, and they even make street art about it!

That is why this is what I wish to you all:

let kindness be with you, no matter of the time of the year.

My name is Anna Kuliberda and as a coach, I work with individuals as well as with organizations on finding the right ways to make activism sustainable in three dimensions: personal choices; supporting communities in building anti-burnout culture of balancing passion with reasonable resources management; and with more formal non-profit organizations and other institutions on introducing anti-burnout strategies and human-friendly environment.

Contact me at: anna.kuliberda@gmail.com

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