Radical rest: revolutionary woman

Ella Foote meets Evie Muir – activist, author and founder of Peaks of Colour, a nature-for-healing community group

Do we need special clubs, groups and communities for different members of society in the outdoors? This was one of the first things that Evie Muir and I started discussing when we met for a swim in the Peak District, near her home in Sheffield. I had just finished a hiking weekend with a group of plus-size women and I had been challenged by a friend why there was a need for such a group. Evie has often been challenged with the same question. She is a nature writer and founder of Peaks of Colour, a Peak District based nature-forhealing community group, by and for people of colour. Her new book Radical Rest: Notes on Burnout, Healing and Hopeful Futures, is out next month.

“When I first started Peaks of Colour it was such a common challenge,” says Evie. “The community started off as a walking group, but it has since evolved. Our goal isn’t to keep things separate, our goal is that different groups won’t be needed. But for now, it might be that other groups don’t feel safe for us. Unless you have been a person that needs a female-only space, male space, black group or community and so on, you can’t really question it, you just have to believe them when people say they need it.”

It isn’t surprising that we dove into deep conversation so early in our meeting. Evie is a force. She has an energy that you just want to get behind and elevate. She has passion and intelligence that I could only hope to one day match. Having worked in the violence against women and girls’ sector for over 10 years, specialising in black and queer survivors’ intersectional experiences of gendered and racialised trauma, she left when she became burnt out, disenfranchised and disillusioned. Her book, Radical Rest, documents her journey of activist burnout, embodied healing movement building, hope and imagination through a black feminist, abolitionist, nature allied and anti-capitalist lens.

“When I first started working on the book with my publisher, I think they envisioned a self-help style book,” says Evie. “But I couldn’t do that, I could barely help myself! It didn’t feel right because I didn’t feel like I had the answers. Instead, I wanted it to be more of an invitation to join me on the journey I am on. What I am trying to work through, heal from and how I am approaching it. It is a bit of a time-capsule of where I was over the past 18 months and now it is finished, I already feel very different to when I started.” Burnout is a loaded and topical word, so I was interested in Evie’s take on it.

“It is trauma,” says Evie. “There is research that demonstrates that the brain responds to burnout the same way it does when it is dealing with PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). So, what is the trauma? For me it is radical capitalism and all the different systems in our society. It doesn’t matter what background you are from – we are all interacting with capitalism to one extent or another and therefore it is traumatising across the board. As a black activist you are not only experiencing the harms of capitalism, you’re also more likely to disproportionately experience the harms because of the intersectional oppressions and the lack of access to the pros of capitalism as well. But also, as an activist you are in resistance to it, so there is no way you can benefit from it. You are fighting it, being harmed by it and there is no way you cannot burnout in that situation. “The common denominator is that radical capitalism is traumatising and there are those of us who feel it more deeply. Those that can’t access spa days, medication, health treatment or holistic therapies. There are people who will be traumatised by capitalism but are able to bounce back quicker to continue being productive for capitalism. But for some, we’re in this like sticky no-go area where we’re burnt out and there’s no way we can access the support even if we wanted to.”

Evie has personal as well as professional experience of domestic abuse and uses outdoor environments as a form of escape and healing. She also has found a connection with nature can help with burnout and trauma. She set up Peaks of Colour initially as a walking group for people of colour but with her work it has since evolved into a nature-for-healing club. Her book outlines burnout as a social-justice issue and features those who have been disproportionately impacted by and working in resistance to burnout. It is a must-read that explains that radical rest is needed and comes from community, with our bodies and with the natural world. “This is what swimming is for me,” says Evie. “It is the balance of being able to feel the depth and aliveness in your body and the literal floating in the water, immersed in nature and suspended between the two.”

Radical Rest: Notes on burnout, healing and hopeful futures is out next month, published by Elliott & Thompson – pre-order your copy now!