When it is all too overwhelming

I had some thoughts today pertaining to the present state of things in the United States and the feelings of hopelessness we all often find ourselves in.

21st-century humans have this incredible gift that humans of centuries past lacked: we can choose our communities.

Though our minds are still wired to be altruistic for only a small, close few, they contain no boundaries to the breadth of our willingness to connect with others. We so often go beyond our wiring to feel the love of a global community. But just as empathy expands to many and brings with it connection, pain and fear also abound. The vulnerability we experience by daring to care for this massive global community is raw and unrefined because it certainly wasn’t forged by evolution.

Some humans can’t do it. Some cannot breach the empathy boundaries of their own likeness. There is no vulnerability, no risk of having to adapt or self-evaluate under the light of a far larger world than their Sapien minds are programmed. So they viciously protect that boundary, at every fathomable cost.

So what do we do? Protect ourselves by reducing our community to only those with whom we share a common vision, or expand our vulnerability to where empathy is met with pain?

The hope lies in this simple fact: you don’t have to choose. You don’t have to let false dichotomies whittle down your sensibilities into simplistic categories that only serve the comfort of others, and to paralyze you into inaction that only serves the status quo.

You can focus your attention, time, and love on your own little circle of like-minded visionaries, AND also take action to improve the larger world community. You are not narrow-minded for choosing to focus most of your time and energy on that which you can most directly affect. You alone are worth it. The world is filled with rough terrain, and not all of it is capable of cultivation.

Love the land, but don’t water barren soil.

Keep nourishing your community and yourself.

You matter.

(Can also be found in my Substack, A Mari Ad Astra)