If you feel hopeless at times, you’re not alone.
It’s hard to keep working for positive change. At our People’s History event, we saw many role models of people who maintained hope during tough times — heroes who won so many important victories, like a 40-hour work week, legal contraception, the right to vote.
Howard Zinn says:
To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places – and there are so many – where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future.
The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.
How do YOU keep your spirits up during tough times? Post your thoughts in the comments below.
When times seem tough, I gather with groups of friends who inspire me to make change in the world and remind me of all the good that happens everyday. I also think about my future (maybe) children and about the kind of world I want to leave for them. (also, good food helps too)
I take time to relax. Getting enough sleep, learning not to worry, eating well, and accepting love from your environment will keep you going.
I reflect. I assess the small differences I’ve already made in the world.
I take small action in my daily life. This helps me feel like I’m doing something useful, even when the big picture is overwhelming. Along the way, I think about things I like about the choices I make — so they feel good, rather than like a burden.
For example, because I care deeply about climate change, I choose to bike for transportation most of the time. Biking cuts my personal greenhouse gas emissions and so my contribution to global warming — but it also builds exercise into my life regularly, it lets me feel the breeze on my face, it connects me to my neighbors, and it saves me on gas, car repair,
and car insurance.
This choice and others like it don’t make huge dents on global carbon dioxide emissions, because I’m just me, but they help me feel like I’m doing something positive for the world while I figure out how to make a larger impact. And they remind me that there are other people — like other Tractivists — who make similar conscious, positive choices about their actions.
And I go dancing.