The Idealist's Survival Kit: 75 Simple Ways to Avoid Burnout

This is not a book. This is a gift. I came across this book because a friend at work recommended it to my manager. He did not read it, but I picked up a copy for myself and decided to read it. This book crystallized a lot of my personal feelings about public safety, humanitarian, and disaster relief work. It is an addictive calling, and many of us who decided to take the plunge do so in the deep end. Unfortunately, we do so before we learn how to swim in those turbulent depths.Humanitarian work, disaster response, and emergency services are exacting masters. They will own you like a slave unless you - not your manager, not a friend, not a policy - YOU, establish boundaries. How much time of your life (your only real currency) are you willing to give to others? This is a hard question, because many of us, if not all, who join a humanitarian organization, do so out of altruism. We believe in the work we do, we find purpose in doing it, and give our time does not feel like a loss.Until it does.When you feel that your time was wasted by ineffectual processes, policies, systems, or people - at what point do you decide to step back? This book helped me answer that question for myself. I have a life with many other aspects and priorities than just humanitarian work. I also have to provide for my family, which includes spending time *with* them - not only spending time *for* them. This book will help you find your own balance, find and set your own boundaries, and help you identify those red flags that tell you that maybe your job (humanitarian work or otherwise) is asking too much of you right now. Every CEO of a humanitarian NGO and head of disaster response agencies should read this book and ask themselves - do we ask too much of our people?Because if your people are burning out - so will your organization.

It’s hard to put ourselves first in the helping professions. Yet if our goal is lasting social transformation, we need organizations and movements driven by strong, imaginative, and effective individuals who can stay in this work for the long-haul. THE IDEALISTS’ SURVIVAL KIT: 75 Simple Ways to Avoid Burnout provides the revelation that makes self care not just a luxury, but a indispensable spiritual practice. Alessandra Pigni writes as your best friend, your therapist, and your own inner voice, offering guidance and encouragement to remember at once how small, and how powerful, we truly are. ~Jennifer Lentfer, creator of how-matters.org

I love this book, it resonates so much with my life, being an aid worker for 10+ years. She touched so many issues that people in this industry go through and yet continue working although they know it's becoming unhealthy for them. Point is, development industry is broken, it encourages corruption and greed within their own staff and people that are supposed to be the "direct beneficiaries". It causes so much suffering, alcoholism, socializing with the kind of people that in a million years you would never socialize with in normal circumstances or having to work with donors that don't know their ass from their elbows. I finally left and am not going to ever work in those broken environments (that are 100% man made) ever again.

Amazing book! I've already recommended it to several friends most working in aid, development and human rights as well as other professions. Easy to read, insightful and brings to light the much needed conversations about working in the humanitarian sector.

An insightful and nourishing read for those in aid and development, or considering a career in these fields. I found myself nodding my head during every chapter, and came away feeling more hopeful and understood.

el libro es buenísimo, recomendado para trabajadores humanitarios

I've exchanged messages with Alessandra over several years around the subject of stress, self-care and burn-out in the NGO and Humanitarian sector, and I've always found her words to be challenging and refreshing: there's a refreshing blast of reality, as well as some challenges to received wisdom, and certainly she has made me think carefully about my views on occasion. I haven't always agreed 100% with her, but her reasoning is always very sound, and she understands that her views reflect her own experiences, and so others will see things differently. She is also very compassionate about the problems an aid worker faces in the field - and as she has worked extensively in some demanding locations her understanding is both practical and academic. It's wonderful that she has brought her wide experience together into this book - I've read it several times, and have it with me now when I travel. She is also very candid about her own experiences and this makes it both more touching and more relevant - it isn't a cold, academic analysis of stress, but a practical guide to dealing with it in a demanding environment.This is an excellent guide to retaining one's sense of self, compassion (and sometimes sanity) when faced with the demands of working for an NGO in the field.

I am always inspired by Alessandra's words of wisdom, her teachings and her unequivocal way of communicating the essence but also the meat on the bones of any idea or story. She shares snippets of her life and worldview whilst always taking into account others too. A touching and heartfelt journey and guidebook for all of us

This book was a real eye opener, probably the most provoking read for a LONG time. Bravely and passionately written. Generously filled with personal experience and observation. A very useful read for anyone subject to burnout through working in an exploitative and pressurised work environment.