Sweden Friends,
Super election year 2014 was a great success for the Sweden Democrats. We reached all the goals we set ourselves and now we are seriously a force in Swedish politics. I am extremely proud of what the party has accomplished, and I am grateful and humbled by the confidence given. We will manage it well and with care.
For my own part, I have, especially in the last year, given everything I had for the party to succeed. It has been great fun to travel around the country, meet thousands of people and the different ways to communicate our policies. I look forward to doing it again.
However, it has also been tough. It has been a long time, not just during the past year. Naturally wear work itself – all the traveling, stress, constant homesickness – but above all, it has also been so much else around that stolen energy and eroded both physically and, not least, mentally. Our opponent’s persistent attempts to stop our successes, the media many times sickening campaign journalism and extremists inordinate hatred are some examples. In my situation, trying to shake off all that stuff – okvädningsorden, threats, hatred. Man tells himself not to take it personally, allowing it to drain. The strategy may work on the surface, at least one time, but in fact puts the deep grooves. Still holding it together reasonably because they have their sights set on election night.
Now that the election is over, I have been given the opportunity to land and feel. It does not feel quite as well as it should do after such a success. On the contrary, I feel bad. People around me have noticed it long ago, told me, and although I really knew that they had the right, I have not been able to allow myself to listen to the ear. Not before the election.
With a bit of distance and better insight, I understand now that I have two choices. Either I run on as usual, with a high risk of going broke for real in the not too distant future, or so I try to get to the bottom myself, cleaning up my mind and find the tools to move forward.
Actually, it’s no choice. I know what I must do to be well prepared for the many and exciting challenges that await in this new mandate. It’s the next few years we’ll get a really big stride. About four years we challenge the Social Democrats and the Moderates for power and to become the largest party. Then I want to be with, to be at the forefront of a Sweden-friendly policies.
I also have a responsibility to myself and, not least, to my family. Being a good father requires both physical and emotional presence and availability. It is important for me to work long term in that role.
For this reason I will for some time to be sick. How long I can not answer today. The doctor calls it “chronic fatigue syndrome”, which is colloquially known as the “burnout”. I know others who have been affected by it. Both those who have done something about it in time and they still, after several years, will continue as usual in the belief that they are invincible.
to just unwind, working more from home and take it easy is not enough. I must be completely free and focus on myself and my family for a time. I can not in my role working shorter hours or temporary switch tasks. My job requires a hundred percent commitment, which I currently can not live up to.
Many will have opinions and theories about this. Some would probably, as usual, to talk about “whining” and “victim cardigan.” However, I can not take a short-term view of what others think. The thing is no more dramatic than I have described here.
I have had conversations with group management in parliament and other party leaders, and I have no doubt that the business and the political process will work in the best way, even without my presence.
I thank you for your understanding and look forward to coming back, stronger and more psyched than ever.
Jimmie Åkesson
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