Am I Doing Enough? A Question I Keep Coming Back To
A reflection by Dee DiGioia, Mindful Kindful YOUniversity
Lately, I’ve been asking myself a hard question.
With so much happening in our world—the cruelty showing up in headlines every single day, human rights trampled on, the erasing of history, and the dismantling of protections for our planet and our health—with the enormity of it all pressing in, I’ve found myself wondering: Am I doing enough?
When I learned of Singing Resistance in Minnesota—a response to ICE violence and the terrorizing of immigrant communities—I immediately thought, “I can do that!” That’s how I can make a difference. After all, it’s a nonviolent approach that brings people together to help express collective grief, anger, and hope. Singing has always been integral to cultures, communities, and resistance movements. Particularly with others, it regulates breathing and triggers the body’s calming systems, reducing stress, fear, and panic during tense situations.
So, I dove in, helping to create our Singing Resistance Central Coast group for San Luis Obispo County. Getting it off the ground meant learning new tools, new platforms, new systems—all while the world was on fire and my business, my own soul’s work, still needed tending. A website. Social media. Secure email. Encrypted messaging. Coordinating with team leaders. Collaborating with other organizations. Showing up to sing.
Each piece felt manageable on its own.
Together, it quietly became a second full-time job—one without pay, without a job description, and without an off switch. I watched others in the group move through it all with what looked like ease, and I found myself wondering: why is this so hard for me?
It’s meaningful and powerful work. And it’s also a lot.
The Internal Resistance
Here is the part I’m almost embarrassed to admit: I don’t love the organizing and administrative side. I love the singing. I love using my voice in community. I love the science of how singing in community creates cohesion and is healing. But the behind-the-scenes administrative part of it—my heart isn’t fully in it.
It’s an internal juggle between what I feel I “should” be doing and what I’m actually drawn to do. Ironically, in my effort to join a resistance movement, I created a different kind of resistance within myself—a heavy, persistent feeling of self-imposed guilt.
Did you ever have this feeling?
When I sit with it honestly, I realize the question “Am I doing enough?” is really a few questions:
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- Am I contributing meaningfully to something larger than myself in these dark times?
- Am I allowed to do it in my own way—the way that actually aligns with my true nature and how I want to show up in the world?
- Am I enough?
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I’ve been finding my way toward “yes” for each of these.
The Ecology of Resistance
I read something recently about how movements responding to rising authoritarianism are not made of one kind of person doing one kind of thing. They are ecosystems. They need many different roles, many different gifts, and many different expressions of care and courage and action.
Something like this:
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- Organizers — those who coordinate, mobilize, inform, make decisions, and hold the structure together (usually based on past experience and knowledge of the systems).
- Witnesses — those who document, bear testimony, and make sure what’s happening is seen, named, and recorded.
- Creators — the writers, poets, dancers, singers, speakers — expressing anger, despair, and grief; shining a light on hope, tenderness, and compassion; healing through words, creative expression, art, and music — the very things that connect people, reduce stress, foster empathy, and support well-being.
- Social Workers and Healthcare Providers — those who provide human essentials: food, water, clothing, and basic healthcare—especially to targeted people. Those who organize and bring awareness to the less-than-human treatment of peoples.
- Advocates and Allies — those who stand beside marginalized communities, amplify their voices, and work to protect their rights and dignity.
- The Healers — those who tend to the ones who are exhausted, traumatized, grieving, overwhelmed, burning out. Those who help people return to themselves so they can keep going—and so they can also see the light and beauty in the world.
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These are just some of the many, many types of people in the ecosystem who respond in times of need. Every single one of these is necessary and essential to the ecosystem.
Finding My Place in the Ecosystem
Where am I in all of this?
The truth is, I have been acting as a lead Organizer for both my business and our Singing Resistance group. I have spent countless hours building the “skeleton”—the websites, the emails, the coordination. I’ve been doing it because it needs to be done.
But I’ve realized that while I can organize, my soul truly comes alive as a Creator and the Healer.
Those are the roles that feel like home. They are who I have become through my own human journey of overcoming trauma and life challenges. I am finally learning to stop feeling like I am “not enough” simply because the administrative “skeleton” feels heavy and draining. I am learning that even while I hold the structure together, I must make space to be the heart of it, too. And in order to bring my best, I need to ensure I am taking time out to fill back up with the things that sustain me.
What I Actually Do
I realized that if the goal of oppression is to make us numb, exhausted, and isolated, then anything that makes us feel alive, rested, and connected is a radical act. My work is resistance.
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- Sound Healing: When I facilitate a sound healing experience, I am helping someone’s nervous system remember what safety, inner peace, and harmony feel like—in a time when safety, peace, and harmony feel far away. Slowing down and taking time for self-care is resistance in chaotic times.
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- Mindful Drumming: I am giving people a way to be in their bodies, in rhythm, and in community—countering the isolation, numbness, and disconnection that authoritarianism depends on.
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- Song Circles: Whether in a living room song circle or marching with Singing Resistance, I am helping empower others to use their voice for authentic self-expression, vocal empowerment, and emotional healing. Through song we ground and connect to our deepest joy. Joy is not a luxury. Joy is resistance. It can’t be taken away.
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- Nature Connection: I am providing the opportunity to connect to the vast, ancient, and unhurried world around us – that which holds and sustains us, no matter what is happening on the news. We let go of the noise of the world. We listen, in silent observance, to the earth, the ocean, the sun and stars, and let Nature remind us, guide us, show us how to live in harmony with one another.
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“If we don’t have peace and joy right now, how can we have peace and joy tomorrow?” — Thich Nhat Hanh
When I provide these experiences with those navigating cancer or a serious health challenge, or those who are in their golden senior years, or any marginalized people, I am saying: your life matters, your peace matters, you are not alone — which is a profoundly political act when the forces around us say otherwise.
When I offer trauma and grief work, I am creating space for people to feel what they feel instead of suppressing it — because unexpressed trauma and grief becomes despair and hopelessness, which is one of the most effective tools of oppression. Most of us are collectively grieving the loss of what our democracy used to look like as we watch its crumbling. This is an opportunity to help grow a more loving and peaceful world out of the ruins.
Each of these offerings is my way of holding a lantern in the dark, reminding us that even in the most difficult times, we have the power to create, to connect, and keep the flame of love and hope brightly burning.
Do What You Can, When You Can
Our group motto is do what you can, when you can. I’m finally letting it land. Burnout comes from having one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake at the same time.
I work with people in some of the most tender and difficult moments of their lives. I need to be mindful of my own capacity—especially as a solopreneur in my upper 60s and having experienced burnout in many other chapters of my life—and need to model what it looks like to be sustained, so I can sustain others.
As Helen Keller said: “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. I am only one; but still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something.”
As much as I want to save the world, I know I cannot do it alone. But I can do my part—doing what I can, when I can. This is the wisdom I have to remember, just as I remind you: we must replenish and nourish both heart and soul to have the capacity to be with the difficulties of these times. If we focus only on the darkness, it will take a toll on our well-being. This is why joy is resistance. Creating is resistance. Community is resistance. Loving and caring for one another is resistance.
A Closing Thought
If you are also asking yourself “Am I doing enough?”—I want to offer you this:
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- Are you showing up with what you have, in the way that is true to who you are, in service of something larger than yourself?
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- Are you taking care of yourself so you can bring your best forward?
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- Are you contributing joy, creativity, compassion, love, and/or light?
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If the answer is yes—even imperfectly, even partially—then you, too, are part of this movement to keeping the lanterns lit. You are needed exactly as you are. Because YOU are enough.
Let’s do this—what we can, when we can! Together, let’s overwhelm the world with the good that we do rather than letting the world overwhelm us.
In peace, love, joy, and light ~ Dee DiGioia
