The Happy, Healthy Nonprofit

Foreword

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, ...