In this episode, we explore how to keep going when the tasks we face in this work seem to continue onwards without end…
What the heck are we doing here? Trying to create useful change, but all it feels like is Sisyphus and his futile battle with that boulder. Or, to give it a perhaps more modern metaphor, we’re endlessly shoving the same sh*t uphill with a shovel, only to have it roll back down all over us, again and again and again.
And yeah, it stinks. In every sense of that word.
Yet perhaps there’s one small change in perspective that we could use at this point…
Yeah, it feels bad. No doubt about that.
Yet it isn’t as bad as it feels.
Really, it isn’t.
It isn’t.
Sure, it’s all too understandable to feel about the bad stuff that way. Most of the time, for most of us, it can seem so lonely, so debilitating, so pointless.
Yet none of those are actually true.
We’re not alone in this remaking towards a sustainable, joyous world: there are enough of us already to get things rolling the right way now, and more of us doing so every day.
It doesn’t need to be debilitating: not at all. True, it’s an immense task, an often-impossible-seeming task. Yet we’re not responsible for taking on everything all on our own - there are others here as well. We need do our own part, yes, as best as we can - yet it stops feeling so tiring when we remember to share the load with others too.
And it’s not pointless, either - there’s definitely a point to it! Literally a matter of life or death, for everyone. We do need this work to be done - done well, done right, done in time - if this world ours is to have any chance for a viable, thrivable, sustainable future. So yeah, this matters all right: it matters a lot.
Yes, it’s a struggle: every day is a struggle, about everything. Fending off the snark, the sneers, the mockery - yeah, that hurts. We know that. Yet we live in a culture that’s spent the past ten thousand years or so pushing ever harder, ever faster, towards a suicidally stupid goal: it does take a while to turn that round.
And yes, we know too that there’s still not much to show for all the work that’s been done so far to turn it round. But that’s always the case with new foundations - particularly for foundations that are as vast and resilient as these ones will need to be.
It may not look like it as yet (and may not feel much like it either) - yet it is all going well.
And we’re not Sisyphus: this is not a punishment, it’s a choice. A task to take on with honour. To take on with pride.
Find the joy; share the work; remember to dance whilst doing it. And share it with everyone you meet. It matters. It matters to us all.
Thanks Tom. I want to add to this. I am checking my motivation but I am hoping my addition is helpful, not only (but also) ego!
I am in a place where my aim is to understand and express my nature. And in doing this I find joy which is motivation enough. And I am creating my own purpose or mission to allow me to do that.
So I don't see too many boulders if I'm honest. Although the mirror I have to hold up and the honesty that is required does feel like a boulder just rolled down occassionally! But there's a reason for that boulder rolling down which does help when I discover why it happened so I can prevent future boulders.
The boulder analogy is more appropriate for when I was involved in (direct action) activism or activities that I felt I 'should' do.
Keep writing Tom for as long as it is giving you joy
Thank you Tom, I really needed this Today, your hill metaphor is so apt for how I am feeling this morning. Taking into account the amount of posts on LI it takes to address what would appear to be simple concepts, and the emergence of "you are wrong, we are right, but don't worry we can train you and give you accreditation" fly by nights is frustrating meaningful progress.
Not impossible I agree, but at the pace we are moving a sustainable planet supported by business initiatives seems to be a bridge to far at present. Oh Well.