As we step further into the new year and are all somewhere in the depths of grief, trauma recovery, and adjustment, I’ve been thinking a lot about capacity—the limits of what we can give, create, and sustain—both personally and professionally.

Our work with clients often comes back to this—as folks move through the process of workplace cultural change they are able to more clearly see how systems of oppression function in their day-to-day work, in this case in the urgency of our workflows.

While the cultural pressure to push ahead can feel overwhelming, especially in the current political context, a trauma-informed lens reminds us to consider capacity differently: not as a fixed boundary to ignore or overcome, but as a dynamic, evolving reflection of our human experience.

I’ve been thinking a lot about trauma lately, both in the context of my own life experiences, that of loved ones, as well as the trauma we see day-to-day in the workplace as well as in the world.

It feels like it’s everywhere, and the truth is, it is something that has been core to our work for a long time. I mean, look at how many times trauma is mentioned in our blog posts.

Not that I am an expert on trauma (we have LaVoya for that - that being one of the reasons ve was a very intentional hire). I am feeling and learning my way through. And what I’m realizing is that we very much don’t generally have a shared understanding or language around trauma, collectively.

At a time when the dominant narrative is grossly mischaracterizing DEI to justify its dismantling in favor of what amounts to re-segregation, we believe now is the time to lean into your values and beliefs.

While there’s so much you can’t control, you can ensure that equity, inclusion, and belonging remain priorities in your workplace - so your staff and the communities you serve feel just a little more protected and reassured.

You can make a difference to the people around you who are feeling scared and demoralized.

And you don’t have to do it alone.

This may seem like a bit of a non-sequitur, given that I don’t think I’ve ever talked about diet culture and fatphobia on the blog or in our work… at least not extensively.

It’s something I’ve been on a personal journey with that isn’t entirely my story to tell, and so I am realizing it is something I have held back on.

This morning, though, I stumbled on a social media thread in a group I’m not very active in that reinforced just how deeply indoctrination into patriarchy, white supremacy, capitalism and fatphobia goes.

“Impact is greater than intent” is one of those concepts that has been popularized over the past few years, especially within white liberal progressive culture.

The idea is that the impact that you have, meaning the impact of harm, outweighs whatever good intentions you might have.

It’s a concept, frankly, that I often see white women using to chastise each other in desperate attempts to virtue signal… which makes sense, given that white women are generally socialized to be pitted against one another by patriarchy and often are not able to see how accountability can be accompanied by support.

There is a phenomenon that I’ve been thinking about both in personal and professional contexts.

It’s when entitlement leads to a certain kind of helplessness, ignorance, incompetence or even misconduct.

For example, it’s when someone, usually a man, “doesn’t know how to cook” even though they would have been quite capable of learning if they’d ever had to, rather than lived their entire lives expecting and having others (women) to cook for them.