Justice Warrior and the gang

By Janet Rice

A life filled with activism put Janet Rice at risk of burnout, until she invoked her Wise One 

I’ve had a very full activist life stretching back over four decades. Looking back, there were times I came close to being overwhelmed but, serendipitously as well as deliberately, I managed to take breaks when I needed them. Discovering the Community of Selves model of self-awareness some 25 years ago helped me enormously. It opened my eyes to parts of myself I hardly knew existed.

My first campaign was the Franklin River in the early 1980s when I was in my early 20s. I went on from there to work in a paid role in the environment movement, particularly on the campaign to protect the forests of East Gippsland for the rest of the 1980s.

There's an important thing about both these campaigns that I will come back to – we won! The Franklin River is still flowing free with its forested catchment part of Tasmania's World Heritage forests. And we had some big wins in the campaign to protect East Gippsland’s forests with the declaration of the Errinundra National Park and other old growth forests protected in the Snowy River National Park.

I was one of the founders of the Australian Greens in 1992, and I spent my 30s building the Greens, being a parent of young children and a campaigner in my local community. I was elected to Maribyrnong Council in 2003 and was a councillor for six years while juggling being a community, transport and climate campaigner, working as a facilitator and parenting two teenagers. After finishing on council in 2008, I decided to throw my hat in the ring for preselection as a Greens senator. I stood for preselection twice before I won, alongside a range of other election campaigns, and continued transport and climate activism.

I was elected to the Senate in 2014 at the age of 53 and spent a very full decade as a senator – a role which leaves you little time or headspace to do anything else. Any time off has to be carved out consciously and is never enough!

I resigned from the Senate last year and since then have been working as a facilitator, human rights campaigner and doing international development work with the Greens in the Asia Pacific.

My community of selves

So who are the parts of Janet, who are my community of selves that have juggled these roles in this busy life?

There are some standout characters.

Justice Warrior is amazing and so strong. She gives me meaning, direction, drive and determination. It’s Justice Warrior who is behind my energy and ability to push on because it's urgent – there's a planet to save. The work of Justice Warrior results in me receiving huge amounts of external validation – people telling me I’m amazing because of all the Good Stuff I am doing. Justice Warrior is supported by The Campaigning for Social and Environmental Change System – The System says we need you Justice Warrior – you are making such a difference!

Justice Warrior is usually working side by side with Superwoman. Superwoman is my I can do anything self. Superwoman knows that she is good at what she does. She is empowered and knows she can make a difference. Superwoman also receives huge amounts of external validation – the Campaigning for Social and Environmental Change System loves her.

Both Justice Warrior and Superwoman are supported by Hope. Hope believes that anything is possible. She believes that we can change the world; that just because change hasn’t happened yet doesn't mean it’s impossible.

For around 20 years, from my 20s to my 40s, Justice Warrior drove my bus most of the time, with Superwoman as a co-driver, and Hope as the navigator.

My experience of winning campaigns early in my activist life were incredibly important for strengthening the formidable trio of Justice Warrior, Superwoman and Hope and keeping burnout at bay.

Others in my community of selves didn’t get much of a look in. Let me introduce you to some of them:

• Family Woman – Janet as a partner, daughter, sister. Family Woman got just enough space – fitted in as a secondary priority as time allowed.

• Nature Lover, who knows that nature replenishes, nurtures and grounds me. Nature Lover did get to assert herself serendipitously as part of the cause when I was working as a forest campaigner, and also gets a good fill up from gardening – which is also productive and useful, so ticks JW’s boxes. Nature Lover actually is the best at challenging Justice Warrior the most and saying, Nope, you’ve got to get out of town for your wellbeing.

• Healthy Me – The part of me that knows I’m worth spending time on to stay healthy and well. Healthy Me was nurtured just enough by riding my bike everywhere (which of course is also cheered on by Justice Warrior).

• Playful – my playful, creative one. Actually JW also cleverly signed her up to the cause: You are being creative - it’s just for a purpose! Playful managed to be pretty active and happy in campaigning land.

• Social Butterfly – my social connected one. Again, JW redirected her to being social and connected with other people in the movement.

A little neglected one

But then there was my most neglected self: Little Janet – My little self-love self who holds the flame that Janet is important and deserves love just because she is herself, not because of what she can do – a human-being not just a human-doing.

Little Janet out the front. Wise One at the centre, and L-R Hope, Mother, Superwoman and Justice Warrior

So how did I manage to survive those 20 years of activism and not burn out with Little Janet being totally neglected?

My sense is that I didn’t burn out because Justice Warrior had Superwoman and Hope supporting her. I received massive amounts of external validation as Justice Warrior did her stuff. Superwoman stayed empowered and Hope managed to stay hopeful – because based on those early wins she continued to believe in the power of movements. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed people can change the world,” said Margaret Mead. “Indeed it's the only thing that ever has.”

Importantly there were some additional happenings in my life that undoubtedly helped.

I got married in my mid-20s. Having Penny by my side as a rock, always there for me mattered a lot. Penny and I travelled together for seven months after two and a half years of intense environmental campaigning. This was an important break, and really good relationship time.

Who’s driving?

A few years after that I decided to take a break from forest campaigning after we won the parks but were then sold out by the Labor party. It was clear that further wins were a long way off, and I knew I didn’t have the energy to keep campaigning in the same way. That was the closest I came to burnout.

And then my energies and focus shifted. I became a mother – and loved looking after a young bub full-time for the first six months. My Mother self drove the bus for quite a while, with Justice Warrior taking a back seat.

John was a pretty happy baby who slept well and ate well so it didn’t take that long until Justice Warrior was getting a bit antsy about not being in the driver's seat. This was the time that Justice Warrior and Superwoman started building something that has continued to nurture Hope and keep despair at bay – the Greens.

Critically, after almost twenty years of activism I did the Groupwork year-long facilitation course. For the first time in my life I did some personal development work, exploring my Community of Selves. I discovered Little Janet hiding way down the back of the bus, totally overwhelmed her whole life by the amazing powerful folks up the front.

Despite having been discovered, Little Janet still had a hard time finding her voice (my Wise One definitely was still in her infancy!) until I did some counselling. It was my Mother self who helped her along. My psychologist asked me whether I would want my kids to live the same crazy busy hectic life as I did and I was shocked – No way! I turned the mirror on myself and Little Janet has come a long way since then. My Wise One managed to make her way to the driver's seat.

Wise One was in the driver's seat most of my time in the Senate despite being incredibly busy. I took (bits of) time off, prioritised sleep (as much as possible), riding my bike, spending time in my garden, and held Friday nights as (mostly) sacrosanct family time. I also knew that I was living a life where the rest of my life was being put on hold. I think it was always at the back of my mind that this state of affairs wasn’t going to continue forever.

A gift of growth

Five years into being a senator my wife Penny suddenly passed away. In amongst the horror, despair and grief of losing the love of my life, there was a gift. This was a time of deep and powerful personal and spiritual growth – I learnt so much about myself. I felt my interconnection with the web of life, I realised how relationships are part of who I am, how I’m nurtured and nourished by nature, how I love nature and nature loves me back. Little Janet has grown so much, and my Wise One has come to the fore. I know and feel that I am part of the amazing awesome universe, that all is one and one is all. My Spiritual One has grown so much too – she was even tinier than Little Janet before.

So it was my Wise One who made the decision to hang up my boots after ten years in the Senate. Justice Warrior and Superwoman are sitting in the bus mostly okay with the decision. They do like being in the driver's seat and will jump in whenever Wise One gets a bit distracted. Family Woman is thriving, especially through my relationship with my new partner Anne. Spiritual One continues to grow. Mother, Playful, Social Butterfly, Nature Lover and Healthy Me are all in much better shape, and I think I’ve avoided burnout for good!

Janet Rice is a Groupwork Centre associate. She was in the first year-long group facilitation course developed by GC cofounder Glen Ochre.