Tiana Dodson

With a decade as a body liberation facilitator and a lifetime of lived experience as a fat, biracial, queer, neurodivergent person, Tiana Dodson is well-versed in what it is to exist in a multiply-marginalized body. As an active co-creator of the Syllabus for Liberation, her work addresses how personal, community, and global liberation depend upon each other. Through her consulting services, group offerings, and public speaking, Tiana highlights the ways these systems of oppression are bound together and how we can push back against them.

May 15 • 2 min read

Maybe you don't have to.


Hello there, Reader.

I yelled "fuck off" had a moment of clarity this morning during one of my workday-opening routine activities.

As many of you probably do, I start my workday by getting set up, checking my calendar and to-do lists (yes, with an "s" because I contain multitudes), and browsing my email inbox.

For me, one of the biggest things that keeps my head together when it comes to email is to glance over the new stuff that has come in while I was off work and decide which ones deserve my attention and which don't (my delete hand is quite strong, if I do say so myself).

Today, I received a performance report from a service that provides such things monthly. It told me that my account had performed at 75% the previous month and then proceeded to tell me what things I needed to do to get to that coveted 100.

When I looked over the suggested activities, I found myself getting really annoyed.

All the suggestions were things that were going to net me "nice to have" improvements that were not only unnecessary, but also both fiddly and time consuming to boot.

That's when I yelled "fuck off" had my moment of clarity: some suggestions for improvement are just not worth the effort.

So I am opting out of doing them.

And maybe, my dear, you can do the same.

Because we are constantly pelted with messages (by email and otherwise) that are telling us that there are totally things that we "need" to do to improve ourselves.

Would it be nice to improve? Sure. Probably.

But, ask yourself a few questions before you embark upon those incremental, time consuming tasks:

  • Would spending that time and effort really make things better?
  • Is the result both guaranteed and worth the trouble?
  • Do you truly have to reach that 100% or is 75% perfectly fine?

I bet, after going through that short list of Qs, your As don't have you rushing off to fiddle with things that can be left just as they are.

Sometimes 75% is totally enough.

And you can take that bit of time and effort you just saved to apply it to another endeavor that will really move the needle in a meaningful way for you. #DiscernmentWin

In love, liberation, and solidarity,

No matter what they say, you don't have to do it all.

I made this mini course for you and for me, because, though things are really hard, we need to make it to the other side. Click here to start finding your way through overwhelm.


Sent with big fat love from a messy desk and a neurodivergent mind.

If you loved what you read, share it with your friends!

You are receiving this email because you subscribed at www.tianadodson.com, made a purchase from us, or attended an event we hosted or were featured in... and we're so happy you're here!


With a decade as a body liberation facilitator and a lifetime of lived experience as a fat, biracial, queer, neurodivergent person, Tiana Dodson is well-versed in what it is to exist in a multiply-marginalized body. As an active co-creator of the Syllabus for Liberation, her work addresses how personal, community, and global liberation depend upon each other. Through her consulting services, group offerings, and public speaking, Tiana highlights the ways these systems of oppression are bound together and how we can push back against them.


Read next ...