When I got the e-mail from Beth and Aliza asking me to write this foreword, I nearly spit up a mouthful of tequila all over my keyboard. Stop judging; it had been a rough week, and that was my self-care tequila. I keep it under my desk, along with several bars of dark chocolate, and pull it out after getting grant rejections, receiving unfair criticisms from my board, or any time the phrase “annual gala” comes up at any meeting.

Honestly, asking me to write the foreword to a book on self-care is like asking my toddler to write the intro to The Joys of Sharing Your Toys or No More Tantrums: Effective Communication with Your Parents. Having been an executive director for over a decade, I have picked up some horrible habits, such as eating lunch at my desk while reading e-mails, staying up late working every night, and saying yes to every request of my time. I developed this one weird twitch in my left eye and started scaring staff and volunteers. The concept of self-care came along, and I scoffed, deciding that I would rather juggle mason jars full of live scorpions than do yoga or chug a green smoothie every morning, or bathe every day, or whatever this hippie philosophy entails.

But reading this book, the book in your hands, made me realize self-care is way more than the downward-facing dog and kale smoothies. Beth and Aliza, with their signature humor, piercing insight, and concrete advice, present a compelling argument for why we burn out and why it is important for all of us to take care of ourselves and each other and create happy, healthy, supportive environments in which to do our work.

A while ago, in a period of overwhelming stress, I wrote the Nonprofit Unicorn’s Mantra:

I am a nonprofit unicorn. I try each day to make the world better. I am good at some stuff, and I suck at some stuff, and that’s okay. There’s way more crap than I can possibly do on any given day. On some days I am more productive than on other days, and that’s okay. I know sometimes there are things that I certainly could have done better. I know that I can’t make everyone happy or spend as much time as I could on everyone. I know there’s a bunch of crap I don’t know. Sometimes I make mistakes, and that’s okay. I will try my best to learn and to improve, but I’ll also give myself a break. I will be as thoughtful and understanding with myself as I am with my coworkers and community members. I am an awesome and sexy nonprofit unicorn.

That mantra has carried me through some tough days as a nonprofit professional doing work I love. Beth and Aliza, though, made me realize self-care is not just about individuals but also about organizational culture and combatting sector-level philosophies such as scarcity and martyrdom, about changing unrealistic expectations and restrictions from funders and from society. The shift from self-care to WE-care, as discussed in this book, is a critical shift our sector must make if we want to effectively address the injustice and inequity facing our community every day.

It comes down to this: our work matters, but it is ongoing and we must sustain ourselves for the long run. Self-care is no longer just about us as individuals. Unlike many other professions that will likely be taken over by robots, human nonprofit professionals will always be needed due to the complexity of our work. We lift up families; we build communities. If we burn out, the cost to our world is high.

Thank you for all that you do. If you are reading this book, you are probably a nonprofit professional contributing to making the world a better, safer, happier place for me and my tantrum-throwing toddler. I am very grateful. I know our field is not easy, and, in fact, it can be maddening. But our work is vital, and it cannot be done without the amazing professionals dedicating untold hours every day to it. Please take care of yourself as you take care of others, and let’s make every nonprofit a happy and healthy place, where our eyes don’t twitch and where we can take swigs of Jose Cuervo simply for its exquisite flavor.

Vu Le
Nonprofitwithballs.com