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So I spent this weekend at the Feminist Majority Foundations’ Third Annual Women of Color Conference. The conference was dynamic in that I am energized by the spirits of progressive thinking and acting women. I had the pleasure of learning from a variety of women from many diverse areas of the women’s rights movement. Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Mia Mingus, Alice Lovelace and Loretta Ross are just the first names that come to mind. If you’ve never head of these ladies I encourage you to Google them and familiarize yourselves with their work.
 
Well anyway the conference got me to thinking about my clients. Most of them women who are experiencing work related stress. I wondered how many of the women that I come into contact with have stopped to consider the concept of oppression. I Googled oppression and the Wiki definition was the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner. Think about how many systems you belong to that have the potential to be burdensome and unjust, especially to women and racial minorities.
 
I can recall not too long ago I worked in an extremely oppressive environment. No matter how many sales records I broke, client praises I received or new innovative resources I brought to my organization, I was never recognized. As a matter of fact, more often I was penalized for my successes. At some point I realized that if I were going to survive there I had to learn to lay low, fly under the radar and not shine. Being in such a cruel demeaning environment changed me. I was not fun to be around at all.
 
If you are dealing with oppressive, soul draining work conditions, it is normal that you feel angry, depressed and stressed. These are natural reactions to stressful conditions. What is not natural is remaining in these spaces. If you need help navigating a new path, I can help. I’ve been there.