Donate to organizations on the ground. It feels horrible to read the news about people drinking out of creeks and children running out of food and not be able to do anything about it. But we CAN do something about it. Give cash! As much as you can! Here’s a bunch of orgs in Puerto Rico you can give to. And remember how much we all hate restricted funding? Make sure your donation is general operating so that these orgs can use it however would be most effective.
Watch mindless television. We are in the golden age of television. Take advantage of it. Maybe stay away from serious stuff like Man in the High Castle, which is starting to hit a little too close to home. I recommend you try comedic shows like Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Arrested Development, Chewing Gum, Blackish, and Fresh Off the Boat. The first three are binge-able on Netflix. Also on Netflix is a new animated show called “Big Mouth,” which deals hilariously with puberty. Remember how awkward our adolescent years were? I miss those years…
Immerse yourself in nature. Countless studies have shown the direct benefits of being surrounded by trees and water and stuff. Take time to go on a hike. Gaze at the mountains. Stand near the ocean and hear the waves crashing and bathe in the beauty of our natural world. Try not to think that the administration is actively working to reduce our national monuments, deny science, and prevent progress to halt climate change.
Meditate: Meditation is not just for hippies, and it does not need to be difficult. Here are some free apps to get you started. Try what works for you. It could be as simple as spending five or ten minutes a day breathing in and out deeply. Or do what I do: Sit on the carpet, rocking back and forth and chanting, “It’s just three more years, it’s just three more years…Oh look, a pistachio.” (We really need to vacuum more often)
Read this article. It points out the fact that that racists, white supremacists, anti-Semites, etc., are loudest when they are fearful. “White supremacists are afraid of us. They are afraid of the tremendous and transformative possibility of a united, multi-racial force. If we, who together overwhelm their numbers 1,000 to 1, ever succeeded in building a united front, we would finally root out their hate and build a truly free and egalitarian society.” F yeah!
Spend time with your family: Last week, I went to a pumpkin patch with the kids. They happily played in a giant bin full of dried corn. Then we saw a whole bunch of tiny black dots on the surface of the corn. They were grain beetles. Thousands of them. We quickly got the kids out and shook the beetles out of their socks. Wonderful memories like this should be cherished. Find time to hang out with your family.
Be kind and compassionate. When it seems like the world is going down the crapper, the best response is to be kind and to build community. You’d be surprised how stress relieving it is to help a neighbor move, or volunteer at a food bank, or even smaller things like not flipping someone the bird who really deserves it. As MLK Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.” Plus, it really riles up the hate-filled bigots to see people be kind to one another, so that’s a bonus.
Continue your work: Though it seems the work we each do may be too remote or too small or too unconnected to make much of a difference in light of everything, be assured that it does. Last week the Montana Nonprofit Association introduced me to an uplifting essay by poet and author Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, called “We Were Made for Times Like These.” Here’s a passage that stuck with me:
“Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good. What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does not take everyone on Earth to bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale.”
Our sector was made for times like these. The work that you do makes a difference. Take care of yourself.
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