Oh yeah, I definitely struggle with this. When I'm feeling down it's very easy to dismiss my struggles as fickle and frivolous compared to what others go through. Then I use that as ammunition to judge myself! 😩
I like the "do what I can, when I can" approach. I've been trying to see it more as a scope issue--most of the really troubling problems we hear about are just too big for any one individual to make any difference. Which sounds defeatist, I know, but if I narrow my scope to just where I am and who I encounter each day, that's a much more manageable scale. If I can give some good to each person I encounter rather than making things worse, then I can hope it spreads outward from there.
That’s an excellent point. Scope is particularly hard to keep in mind in this age of the internet, and defeatist discouragement can drag us down—and make us less likely to step up and help the ones who ARE within our scope as they cross our paths. (Hence my song “Tend Your Heart.”) Same for privilege guilt. The practice is, I think, to keep as clear a view as we can while also tending ourselves adequately.
Oh yeah, I definitely struggle with this. When I'm feeling down it's very easy to dismiss my struggles as fickle and frivolous compared to what others go through. Then I use that as ammunition to judge myself! 😩
I like the "do what I can, when I can" approach. I've been trying to see it more as a scope issue--most of the really troubling problems we hear about are just too big for any one individual to make any difference. Which sounds defeatist, I know, but if I narrow my scope to just where I am and who I encounter each day, that's a much more manageable scale. If I can give some good to each person I encounter rather than making things worse, then I can hope it spreads outward from there.
That’s an excellent point. Scope is particularly hard to keep in mind in this age of the internet, and defeatist discouragement can drag us down—and make us less likely to step up and help the ones who ARE within our scope as they cross our paths. (Hence my song “Tend Your Heart.”) Same for privilege guilt. The practice is, I think, to keep as clear a view as we can while also tending ourselves adequately.