This article is written by Stephanie Moorhouse, manager, School Improvement Strategy, Department of Education and Training, Victoria, Australia

I write this — my first contribution to the Apolitical community — from my home in Melbourne, Australia, on the country of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong peoples of the Kulin Nation.

Your collective wisdom makes for a daunting audience! I felt this as I searched for an angle; an offer that could speak to you in your precious diversity from my own (singular) experience.

I take heart in the words of American psychologist Carl R. Rogers tha_t “what is most personal is most general”._ Or rather, that what we believe to be most personal within our experience might in fact be the very thing that would, if it were shared or expressed, speak most deeply to others.

And so I share with you, not a profound idea or insight, but a feeling — and it is that I am weary.

It is not hard for me to imagine that you might be too.

A balm for the soul

I am a fundamentally hopeful person.

There is no despair in my weariness, simply the recognition that our bodies keep a record and that 2020 was a grind. While the celebration of the New Year enables a symbolic break with the past, the reality is, of course, that time and experience is continuous and our challenges pay no heed to our desire to put them behind us. Despite almost two weeks of annual leave, I find myself in need of a still greater rest.

At the risk of sounding too much like “hopes and prayers” instead of “policy and change”, I believe it is only through attending to my own emotional and spiritual wellbeing that I am able to sustain the difficult work of creating powerful policy and leading transformative change

As I write from this place of deep weariness, I ask: “What is it that I myself want to read?”

The answer I come to is this: words that nourish. I love learning and finding new ways to strengthen my professional practice, but right now, I crave words that provide a balm before I can face another tip sheet, webinar or guide with any genuine enthusiasm.

My weariness is not exceptional, and I acknowledge that I am privileged in many ways — among these my whiteness, education, and the very fact that I remained employed during 2020. Equally, the need to adapt and respond to the extreme challenges wrought by pandemic isn’t exclusive to the public sector. Nevertheless, our challenges have been real, and feelings of weariness are valid.

I see you

And so, to you, my extended community of fellow public servants, I offer this benediction. While a benediction would not be out of place in a service of a faith community, the Latin origins of the word — bene dicere — mean simply to speak well of, or to wish well.

If you are weary, I see you and I wish you well

At the risk of sounding too much like “hopes and prayers” instead of “policy and change”, I believe it is only through attending to my own emotional and spiritual wellbeing that I am able to sustain the difficult work of creating powerful policy and leading transformative change.

If you are weary, I see you and I wish you well. I hope these words may nourish you and lift your spirit a little today.

A benediction for the weary public servant

May your weariness remind you of your humanness –

At the end of ourselves, we find each other.

May you see realise the possibility in shifting sands

For systems change.

May you remain a most ardent student

of Life and all her lessons.

May you use the tools of your profession

To give hands and feet to hope.

May you be open to any truths revealed by your critics,

And be strengthened as a vanguard of integrity.

May you discern between what can be solved

And what must always be carried.

May you never fear complexity,

For it is a sign you are paying attention.

May you believe this year holds great promise

Because it does, until you decide it does not.

May you know that every day you develop, produce, deliver

You are also

Creating.

— Stephanie Moorhouse

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