The "End of the World" is the Beginning of the New One
Finding hope amongst chaos, climate disaster and crimes against nature
I just cannot not have hope anymore. I am a mother. I have a small baby who I need to love, care for and protect. I have a world that I need to love, care for and protect; so that my son can live and flourish and find his way as he grows and grows up. But, even if I did not have children— I need to have hope. We all need hope. We need to feel hopeful that what we do can, and will make a difference. There is a lot of fear-mongering and hopelessness talk when it comes to the state of the world, climate, humanity in general. And, it is not without some truth. However… catastrophizing and claiming hopelessness in our situation and state will not make things better, does not motivate action, and creates a general “end of the world” “apocalypse” “fuck-it” type of vibe that serves no one except the evil scum (billionaires, Trump-types etc) who actually benefit off of apathy, lack of action and hopelessness. When we are hopeful, when we are engaged and motivated, when we take direct pointed action(s) we become less consumeristic and less easily sold on things we do not need. We become better critical thinkers. We become more active- literally. We spend less time on our phones and on our couch… and we spend less time bed-rotting with Netflix on and our intuition to the outside world shut off. We wake up and do, create, make art, talk to friends, take a walk, write a blog, adopt a dog, join a protest, tend a community garden. Etc. Etc.
When one world ends another one is born
Nothing is permanent.
Life is cyclical.
Nature is far more powerful than we are.
The Earth, and beyond that our solar system and our universe, is FAR more powerful than we are… and we do not matter. And yet we do. There is beauty in this contradiction. This contradiction isn’t a permission slip to do whatever the F we want and “Ruin” our world. We should stay humble enough to remember that we aren’t so important that our mother Earth might not reject us, but also mother Earth is a loving mother who might just challenge us with lessons that we can grow and evolve from… leaving us, her children, stronger, smarter and better adapted for the future.
The world our children create is one that we might never see. That we might not even have the language to describe. Our “world” may have to end in order for something better to take its place.
How to stay hopeful
Go outside. Be in any type of nature you can find: a city park, a garden, a mountain, the ocean. Stare at something green, something not created by humans. Do this is often as possible.
Spend time with people. Find community. Especially spend time with people much older or younger than you. Talk to elders. Play with children. Be together outside.
Tend to a garden. even if it is just a windowsill herb garden.
Ritualize your gratitude and appreciation for the abundance you do have. A “I have enough” whispered to your heart every morning. Or, “I am abundant” stirred into your morning coffee. Or “ I am grateful for the gift of water” when you shower. These small acts of ritual can create a blueprint for how you perceive the world.
Make yourself a tea with herbs you grow, pick or find from a local source. Excellent and easy to grow/find herbs include: mint, lemon balm, chamomile, calendula, dandelion, stinging nettles, yarrow. Herbal infusions ground us and bring us into the present moment. Herbs grown by ourselves or others locally connect us to the land. And in turn connect us with the other people, animals, plants who share the land we live on.
Connection creates community which creates hope, it is harder to feel hopeless and alone with the weight of the world when you have community to lean on, learn from and enjoy life with.
When in doubt, create. Make art (even if you are not an “artist”, even if you make “shitty” art), make beautiful meals, start a family, create a garden, start a food drive or a garbage cleanup group.
Create more than you consume.
Live each day, not like it is your last, but as though it is your first. How will you spend your days?
