No doubt you’ve heard the expression, “This is a marathon, not a sprint.” Helpful words, but it’s likely that you’re tired anyway. How many calls must we make? How many letters can we send? For how many more actions are we expected to turn up?

If you’re feeling a bit tired and burned out, or overwhelmed, I hear you. And if you’ve been active and suddenly realize, hey, it’s summertime—of course taking a break is fine. What isn’t fine is walking away altogether. The movement needs you. The country needs you.

Since we’re discussing burnout, I’m going to assume you don’t want to read a long blog, so I’ll keep this short and sweet.

It’s OK, even necessary, to take a rest when you’re exhausted. We can only do so much. It’s a great idea to recharge your batteries in whatever ways work best for you.

You can say no to some activities. This is particularly true if you’re already saying yes to others! And if you feel guilty about not doing more, see if you can inspire your friends, family members, colleagues, or strangers to step up and do more.

There are so many different ways to take action, surely you can find ones that you enjoy. Prefer being outside and with others? Join a banner drop or Signs of Fascism or the weekly protest at Rodeo and Zafarano or the Thursdays at 5:30 anti-Bezos protests at Whole Foods. Show up for one of the other events listed in the Indivisible weekly newsletter. Enjoy making phone calls, or at least don’t hate it and only have a few minutes to devote to activism? Call your elected representatives, using the scripts in the Indivisible newsletter or in newsletters such as Jess Craven’s Chop Wood, Carry Water. Like to make noise? Join the Good Trouble and other events, including the Saturday morning Speakers’ Corner.

There are many other organizations to support. Burrito Brigade needs volunteers to help make burritos and serve people. Other organizations put out regular calls for volunteers and financial support.

Want to meet other like-minded people, and learn more about ways to take action? Join the ISF weekly meeting. You don’t have to come every week, but if you drop in occasionally, you can learn about more ways to get involved, and form activist friendships where you can motivate each other.

Those of us who still feel safe despite all that is happening are the privileged ones. We should continue to appreciate our relative safety, and do what we can to help others in worse situations. Staying silent about horrific policies (mass incarceration of people of color and mass deportations started long before Trump, for example) have helped get us to where we are. It’s all very well to bemoan the current situation, but we must also remember that silence is complicity.

We can’t do it all, but we can do enough that, along with millions of others taking action, we can contribute to making the vital difference between a decline into autocratic hell and the makings of a democracy that uplifts us all.

So take rest when you need it, find the activities that you can enjoy or at least feel able to do, and find joy where you can. We need to sustain ourselves and others. Together, we can run this marathon successfully!