Progressive Strategy Now (April 12, 2025)

11/21/2025

Some days I feel completely stuck. I stare out the window. I scroll past headlines I can’t absorb yet can’t tear myself away from. Tasks pile up. My sense of direction vanishes. That frozen feeling of disorientation, fatigue, ambient anxiety, and internal pressure to move without knowing where to start is one of the most common downstream effects of what I’ve called the Authoritarian Harm Complex. It’s what happens when your nervous system, purpose, relationships, safety, and work all get hit at once.

A second weight sits atop the harm: the steady stream of messaging about what resistance is supposed to look like. That curated ideal of constant action, relentless urgency, and public-facing bravery. I’ve spent years in movement spaces and know how vital collective action is. But most of us aren’t full-time organizers. We’re trying to stay human inside a system we depend on that is being ransacked and torn apart.

When our diminished capacity doesn’t match the movement’s ideal expectations flooding our feeds, it deepens the stuckness and can turn survival into self-blame. For some, there’s an added fear that showing up imperfectly may lead to judgment or rejection from those we hoped to stand beside.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

That’s why I started collecting tiny moves. Not as a replacement for larger strategies, but as a way to keep going when the big strategies feel out of reach. When the trail disappears, these are the footholds I return to.

Many of these came out of the lived experience of myself, colleagues, friends and the community organizations and leaders I consult with. Some were adapted from conversations with readers. Others emerged through teaching, organizing, reflection, or reading. This list is emergent, not closed.