The Broader Context

An old pal recently left an honest comment on one of my LinkedIn posts. I’ve known him maybe 25 years or so. In my mind, he’s a sharp creative, a gifted illustrator, a talented artist. He’s built with a comedic wit and a giant heart. He should be duly rewarded with a smooth ride and a fulfilling career.

But right now, like many, he’s stuck in the ol’ liminal space. Frustrated about his prospects as he hunts for a new gig. As he bravely shared, his vulnerability allowed an acknowledgment.

In a nod to my earlier article, he mentioned he’s “not only trying to reconcile wants with needs, but also trying to make sense of the broader context of the world in which both exist”.

I really appreciate him bringing this up, because we do need to address it. Don’t worry, I’m not about to get all political or run off on some rant about how we need to change the world. And to be clear, this piece is also not a direct response to my friend and his concern, but it’s inspired me to write in this direction.

Make It Make Sense.

Yes, the world around us right now is pretty awful to navigate. I don’t even have to list any of the thousand external challenges or insane news items that confront us on a daily basis. You know what I’m talking about.

We’re reminded to rely on our gratitude about the modern miracles that are keeping more of us humans alive longer, and healthier, than ever before. That you’re merely a speck of dust walking around on a grain of sand when considering all the time and the space there is and ever has been. So just put down your excuses and pull yourselves up by your bootstraps already - no excuses, get on with it.

But hold on a minute. This is my one life. I’m living here, now, in this particular era. Yes, fantastic, thanks for all the perspective, resources and modern tech. Oh look, there’s a whole gig economy out there too? Cool. Thanks again.

This amazing life that Big Tech and others promised, well, it actually ain’t easy, now is it. In fact, it seems like it’s getting harder? Each month it just gets…worse? Like, existentially impossible at times?

So much has been changing, is changing, and there's so much more change yet to come. Ambiguity and confusion. Conflict and chaos. Tension, without release - it breeds helplessness, renders hopelessness, churns anxiety, spreads unease. I mean, what can we possibly do?

Stop. Take a breath. Repeat that sentence.

What. Can. YOU. Possibly. Do?

You’re one person of many. BILLIONS. Yes, sure, you can create change, you can inspire, encourage and organize the masses to move the giant needle together and set things the way they’re supposed to be.

..Have you done so yet? And really, is that who you are right now? If it’s who you’re meant to be, well stop reading this and please go launch your organization. We could use the help.

Or is that, well dare I say it, perhaps…maybe, kinda, sorta…someone else’s job?

…Come back. I promise this isn’t one giant deflection; this will start making sense.

First, I believe it’s normal and, truly, a moral act to express concern for those who are cast out and lost or for those who are about to be. We see others on a daily basis, across our human experience, who have already been forced in unappealing directions without having alternative options.

Despite occasional glimpses of hope, anecdotes of strength, moments of clarity, we're still living in anticipation. Unseen and seen forces upending our lives, our livelihoods, our loves, and our identities.

So, check in with loved ones, your neighbors, your beloved colleagues. Reach out to someone who might need your help, even if you don't know what help they need right now. Reach out to someone you haven't talked to in years, and trade some war stories. Connection is everything.

Look up. Hold the door for the stranger behind you. Smile at the stranger walking towards you. Keep moving.

Yes, every little thing you do to counterbalance madness makes our world more sane.

Thanks for what you’re doing. And, also? It’s entirely okay if you’re not doing anything right now.

I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions. But at the start of this year I made a few commitments that might change my trajectory. And again, in June, for my birthday, I took another look at those, made some tweaks, picked up a few new commitments. (You’re reading one of them).

Of equal importance as the actions I committed to take were the ones I committed to stop, reduce, or slow down. I won’t share them all but there’s one good example that relates here. Get ready, it comes in two parts. A short sentence and a long sentence.

Let me know if either of them resonate:

Some context: I’d been ranting and raving online ever since one golden escalator descended and delivered unto us much of the madness that we’ve been steeped in for more than ten years now. If you know me personally, you already know this about me. If you don’t: I moved from Facebook to Twitter to Instagram in quick succession, outrunning the bots and racing into the arms of all those who already agreed with me.

And if I may say so myself - I did it all with loads of creativity and biting wit. With every post or retort in a comment section I thought I was boldly contributing to the greater good, giving voice to the voiceless, setting the record straight and hour by hour I was toppling a brazen, naked, faux-emperor and dismantling those who shamelessly and ignorantly exalted him. Believe me, I was a great and virtuous citizen.

And what has all that effort, all my keyboard-warriorship, all that continued consumption of inflammatory rhetoric and re-articulation of inexhaustible outrage actually earned me?

More stress. Less hope. More fear, more worry, more despair, and more connection to a greater context over which I had no power and likely never will.

I was convinced I was moving the giant needle.

At the very least, surely I charmed someone along the way in my effort to coin new clever monikers for the monster. Maybe I did make someone else feel less alone in the face of it all. But that wasn’t my goal. My goal was to enact actual change, by exercising my rights and communicating my exasperation and disapproval.

Like so many, I was trying to broadcast SOS messages from the black rectangle in my hand, rather than put my arm down to fully face reality. My reality: this activity, however creatively fulfilling, actually exploits me and distracts me from my greater purpose on this forsaken planet.

Meanwhile, the world was missing out on my more valuable potential. This little speck of a dust mite on the grain of sand was withholding his contributions. Selfish little mite.

Again, I’m only offering all this as a personal example. You may have figured out years ago that shutting down your social media sewage line, or at least going silent, was the wise, healthy, safer move. It was. I’m genuinely happy for you, and I’ll let you feel your well-deserved superiority here for the moment.

…Good? Good, let’s widen out to my broader point here. I had to arrive at a conscious place, one of choice. At the start of the year I paused. I gave myself the time and space to choose to change how I was operating. This was essential to rediscovering my balance as a creative person in this world right now. Another realignment of mine. One of many.

By the way, over the course of history, guess what really changes the world?

Inspiration. Creativity. Ingenuity. Not just fighting back what isn’t good, but purposefully designing and digging new pathways to help others to move forward, fostering unexpected discoveries of value.

So, when your personal overwhelm feels compounded by massive external forces, I recommend you pause. Step back and really observe your reactions to it all. Measure the time and energy spent reacting to all that noise attacking your brain.

Then consciously lower the volume on the external sound. You don’t have to tune it out entirely; it will always be there. Move further inward, downward. Tend to the hyper-local conflict in your heart. The very choice to sort through your wants and needs will let you unearth hidden possibilities, grow your own new garden.

Eventually, your world and mine will be a better place because you did that work first.

Let’s do this work together! If you know someone who needs to read this, please share and encourage them to subscribe. Thanks!

And feel free to drop me a line and tell me what you're working through. I read every single response.

You’ve got this.

Onward,
Kevin
Founder, THE COURAGEOUS