The Liberation of Letting Go: My Evolving Perspective on Saving the World
Maybe you remember, a couple of months ago Anastasia shared her thoughts on the topic of success and how sometimes we keep waiting for it because it's promoted everywhere. Those stories of overnight success cases, where only positive results are glorified and the mundane but important work, which makes up most of our life, is unmentioned. She was asking herself, what happens if this "promised land" never occurs? How will we see ourselves? As failures?
For me, in recent years, another big topic has been central:
Individual responsibility during challenging times in our society. Whether we're discussing the current wars, the pandemic, or climate change, in all of these topics I feel like it's also my responsibility to contribute my part of the "good," whatever I feel the good is.
Individual responsibility during challenging times in our society. Whether we're discussing the current wars, the pandemic, or climate change, in all of these topics I feel like it's also my responsibility to contribute my part of the "good," whatever I feel the good is.
Naturally, I am very involved in the topic climate change and the responsibility to live more sustainably. Overconsumption became such a concern for me that I started lecturing my family and overstepped boundaries. The more I learn about the topic, the more urgent it seems that we have to change.
By reusing clothes, furniture, and anything possible, I was confident I'd found the right way to deal with the desire to consume. I was happy for quite some time with this solution, but at some point, especially when shopping for shoes, I really struggled. I have size 34 feet, and buying even new shoes is difficult for me.
By reusing clothes, furniture, and anything possible, I was confident I'd found the right way to deal with the desire to consume. I was happy for quite some time with this solution, but at some point, especially when shopping for shoes, I really struggled. I have size 34 feet, and buying even new shoes is difficult for me.
When you start relaxing some of your self-imposed rules, it becomes harder to function. You can no longer simply follow a black-and-white guideline like "Don't buy new" or "Don't eat meat." Instead, you have to pause and consider the worth of every action.
Now, bit by bit, I started realizing that my compass, too, doesn't have to be black or white; that grey is a way more appropriate color for it. Just as black-and-white thinking is naive and unhelpful in other areas of life, so too is rigidly adhering to a moral grey area. I've learned that we, as humans, are too complex to adhere to simple rules.
I'm also becoming increasingly convinced that, however important individual engagement is, it's at most 50% of the total effort. The other 50% has to come from systemic change, which has to come from politics. Putting ourselves under the pressure that only we as individuals can make a change, in my opinion, will only lead to burnout.
I'm convinced that our democracy works and that it has to take responsibility for all of us and function for us. While slow development is already underway, I wish for more rapid movement in this area. To understand that I can't save the world alone was, on the one hand, frightening but also reassuring. In the end, this thought relieved the pressure and helped me accept that it's okay to not always be in control.
I'm convinced that our democracy works and that it has to take responsibility for all of us and function for us. While slow development is already underway, I wish for more rapid movement in this area. To understand that I can't save the world alone was, on the one hand, frightening but also reassuring. In the end, this thought relieved the pressure and helped me accept that it's okay to not always be in control.
For now my take-away from the journey so far is:
I want to follow my values, respecting humans, animals, nature, and our surroundings, and hope that they will respect me back. I released the pressure to be perfect, and without that paralysis, I find myself able to do better and be kinder to both myself and others.
I accept that it’s ok to not be in control - at least sometimes ;-)