Committing to an equity design practice

Everyone holds stress in different ways. This lady carries it in her jaw. (Fellow TMJ disorder folks, I see you.)

After years of inconsistently addressing my tension issues, I finally committed to physical therapy at the start of the year. It seems to be going well, so last week, I asked my physical therapist how I would know if I’ve fully corrected my jaw posture.

“It’s not something you’ll really arrive at,” she said. “ You’ll need to work on it every day for the rest of your life.”

Welp, okay. Not exactly the answer I expected, but I shouldn’t have been surprised. While my goal is to relieve tension, it’s accomplished by carrying myself in a particular way. That requires self-awareness, a knowledge of how I need to move (and not move), and actually doing those things on a daily basis. In short, it’s committing myself to an ongoing practice.

Equity-driven design is no different. Self-awareness, skills, and knowledge are all important. But they only work when consistently applied.

We’ve got to accept that we’re never going to arrive. And that’s not the point, anyway. It’s about doing the work. We’ll continue to learn and grow along the way.

So do your best to ditch the perfectionist mentality that permeates dominant American culture, and instead commit to your practice each and every day.

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