What Do We Owe Each Other in Times of Burnout?

As the year winds down, many of us are running on fumes—juggling family expectations, social obligations, emotional labor, and our own internal weather systems. In this session, we’ll explore a deceptively simple question:
How do we practice care without slipping into self-erasure or martyrdom?

Drawing from Bell Hooks on love as an active ethical commitment, Hannah Arendt on responsibility and plurality, and contemporary conversations about emotional capacity and communal well-being, we’ll examine the tension between showing up for others and staying true to ourselves.

We’ll also consider how our cultural scripts around helpfulness, obligation, and “being the strong one” can subtly turn care into overreach—and how we might shift toward a more sustainable, reciprocal model of community.

Expect a grounded, reflective conversation about:

• The ethics of care vs. the impulse to fix
• Capacity as a moral resource
• Boundaries as a form of respect
• How to support one another without burning out
• What healthy, non-martyring community looks like
• How to avoid becoming the kind of helper who puts out every fire but forgets her own stove is still on

Come as you are—tired, curious, or simply craving a space where we can think about care with clarity and compassion.