Sandi L Boucher reads her blog post on being Indigenous in Canada as a lifelong healing journey affecting mind, body, emotion, and relationships. She outlines concrete practices: when to assert yourself versus aggress, when to speak or listen, when to walk away. Healing is exhausting but necessary.
Chapters
Today I want to try something different. Today I'm focusing on the September 14, 2023 blog post called the Marathon. Our Marathon. And all of these videos start as a written blog post because I'm an author before anything and honestly, I don't think I could explain it better than the blog post. So I'm literally just going to share the blog post with with you. Let's talk about it. Foreign. Hi everybody. My name is Sandy Boucher. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, a proud member of Zane River First Nation in Treaty 3 Territory in Northern Ontario. And as mentioned in the opening today, I want to share a blog post with you just the way it's written. And by the way, if you like my writing style, the style of my blog post, that's the style you're going to find in every one of my books. Head to my website to check those out. Now, as mentioned, today's blog post was called the Marathon. Our Marathon. And I'm just going to read this to you. I just got it on my screen here. So let's go. In my humble opinion, to be Indigenous in Canada is to be on a never ending healing journey when I believe lasts our entire lives. Some deny, some struggle, some heal from this or that, only to enjoy a period of peace until the next article of baggage rears its ugly head and the cycle begins again. It is so multifaceted and complicated and interrelated. We must heal ourselves, our minds, our bodies, our emotions, our communication styles. We must learn to speak up and speak out, when to whisper, when to stay quiet and just listen, and when to scream, even if only into the shower or our pillow. We have to heal our inner dialogue and our outer dialogue. Healing how we speak to ourselves, to our loved ones and to those who don't love us. We have to learn assertiveness, not aggression. We have to learn when and what is worth fighting for. When to walk away and when you have to simply watch another leave, allowing them the space to do just that for the sake of their own healing. And all of it is so effing exhausting. So HR People, this is your Indigenous workforce. This is your Indigenous employee, manager, supervisor or boss outside the workplace. This is your Indigenous next door neighbor, the clerk in the store, the waitress at your favorite restaurant, and the person struggling with addiction. Some days are easier, some hit you like lightning. But still we try. Because we know if we fail, if we do not show up for work or school or that conversation, we will have yet another relationship or conversation to heal from, and we are never sure we can take on any more. This is healing. It is not pretty. It's not easy. It is not completed in a day, a week, or a conversation. It just is. And this is Indigenous in Canada. The journey continues. I hope that made sense to you. I hope that either resonated with you if you're indigenous, or offered you some understanding if you're not. We're all just trying our best. Even the ones that you believe aren't trying at all are the ones that are suffering the most. So please, less judgment, more empathy, more time and space. We are focused on healing, and I think you would like us to do that too. Until tomorrow. One more blog post, One more video. I love you. Take care. Bye. Bye.
