I resonated with most of what you wrote about. You are definitely not alone in having those feelings. (I have also been thinking and writing about sustaining altruistic motivation, and I found your article to be a helpful addition).
Another feeling that I come across might be an extension of ‘social approval and connection’ along with ‘other values’. I’ll call it Representing EA (or EA brand/perception management). Especially as a community builder, a mixed feeling comes up in moments where I think that I am helping shape someone’s early perception of EA yet I know that the ideas and practical realities are more complex, challenging, and individualised than I can easily portray in words, especially when I am, at the same time, trying to honestly mention the appealing parts of EA to someone who seems to be really interested in the EA ideas and values.
A feeling kind of like:
I cannot do a good job of explaining this to you until you see more for of it for yourself
yet I still feel the need to do a good job of explaining this to you
and I hope I don’t give you the wrong ideas
even though the decisions are ultimately up to you.
Cool idea with the workshop :-) I think Julia Wise is putting together a template Self Care event for EA group organisers, if there are any takeaways you’d like to share with her.
I think I experience something similar to what you do with Representing EA. I have always hated doing anything that resembles a pitch, and unfortunately I think people usually can see my heart sink when they say, “So tell me more about effective altruism.” Actually the last time I was asked to do something like this, my list of caveats, clarifications and nuances was getting so long that I consciously skipped one and when this later became apparent I got cut off with ”—because you were trying to manipulate me?” In some ways, I think online is higher fidelity than offline. Conversation doesn’t have footnotes ;-)
Thanks for this Holly.
I plan to share your article and talk about in an upcoming workshop I am doing on Self Care for the Altruistic (which will mostly consist of using 80k’s strategies in addition to taking suggestions from participants and others EA folks https://80000hours.org/career-guide/how-to-be-successful/#1-dont-forget-to-take-care-of-yourself).
I resonated with most of what you wrote about. You are definitely not alone in having those feelings. (I have also been thinking and writing about sustaining altruistic motivation, and I found your article to be a helpful addition).
Another feeling that I come across might be an extension of ‘social approval and connection’ along with ‘other values’. I’ll call it Representing EA (or EA brand/perception management). Especially as a community builder, a mixed feeling comes up in moments where I think that I am helping shape someone’s early perception of EA yet I know that the ideas and practical realities are more complex, challenging, and individualised than I can easily portray in words, especially when I am, at the same time, trying to honestly mention the appealing parts of EA to someone who seems to be really interested in the EA ideas and values. A feeling kind of like: I cannot do a good job of explaining this to you until you see more for of it for yourself yet I still feel the need to do a good job of explaining this to you and I hope I don’t give you the wrong ideas even though the decisions are ultimately up to you.
Just seen this!
Cool idea with the workshop :-) I think Julia Wise is putting together a template Self Care event for EA group organisers, if there are any takeaways you’d like to share with her.
I think I experience something similar to what you do with Representing EA. I have always hated doing anything that resembles a pitch, and unfortunately I think people usually can see my heart sink when they say, “So tell me more about effective altruism.” Actually the last time I was asked to do something like this, my list of caveats, clarifications and nuances was getting so long that I consciously skipped one and when this later became apparent I got cut off with ”—because you were trying to manipulate me?” In some ways, I think online is higher fidelity than offline. Conversation doesn’t have footnotes ;-)