Don’t be defeated: rebel and rise
~ Some thoughts, in the hope of empowering you in these current times ~
Rise rooted like trees
There’s something I want to share with you. It’s important.
We all have dark days.
Contrary to what social media feeds may suggest, our lives are not all sunshine and smiles and wonderful food and #livingmybestlife
That’s not how life is. Especially life in these pandemic times.
It’s human to experience days when you feel like shit and it’s all too much and you just want to curl up in a ball and for it all to go away. Or days when you’re incandescent with rage at the injustice of it all.
And if, like me, you’re highly sensitive and/or empathic then when those times come, you really feel it.
I’m sharing because I have those days too.
Those times when I cannot be bothered any more. When I give up on humanity and curse us all as selfish and stupid.
There are times when those feelings overwhelm me and there are times when I’ve curled up in a ball on the sofa crying – no I mean howling, proper full-on snotty wailing – at the pointlessness of life.
We’re destroying our planet.
Covid-19 is continuing to destroy lives and the UK government continues to bungle their response through incompetence and corruption.
Nationalism is well and truly on the rise – and we’ve seen from history where that ends … that ‘us v them’ mentality never ends well.
Trump and his venal enablers have normalised acts of deepest brutal inhumanity.
And rampant conspiracy theories and their apologists are trying to brainwash us into thinking this appalling specimen of a human being is a lightworker here to save us all (I’ve “done my research” and I am “awake” thank you – I don’t believe this QAnon bullshit for a second).
We’re living under a white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy.
Oh Goddess, make it stop!
A downward spiral
I can all too easily feel myself getting pulled into a downward spiral of “what’s the fucking point? Why bother writing books? The world is on fire, literally and metaphorically…”.
Oh my, yes, I love a deep full-on existential nihilistic crisis; it’s my speciality…
When you’re sensitive and empathic you literally can FEEL the pain of the world – perhaps you feel it too? To me it can feel like a howl of pain that’s filling the atmosphere.
I often find the only thing that can lift me out of this state are some words my husband said to me when I was in one of these downward spirals: “don’t let them defeat you”.
Because, oh my, it’s easy to feel defeated in these times, isn’t it?
It’s easy to lose hope and motivation and inspiration and love.
But as I repeat those words to myself, it relights the fire within my soul. No, don’t let them defeat you.
Don’t let the greedy, power-hungry, manipulative side of human nature – which is all too often on display in public life – defeat you.
There is another way. Yes!
Choose to rise
This is how I endeavour to inspire myself to carry on and embrace life. Many times I stumble, but these principles help me to get back up again.
I hope these words help you too.
Refuse to compare and compete.
Resist being a passive consumer. Be a citizen.
Examine and dismantle your unconscious biases around race, gender, sexuality, class and able-ism. Be a better human being.
Channel your rage as a sacred force for creating positive change, however you can.
Embrace courage and speak truth, even in the face of ignorance and hate.
Recognize that many people are living with trauma lodged in their bodies and souls – these are traumatic times, and have been for centuries for people with marginalized identities.
Be kind.
Connect to the love of Mother Earth and the presence of the moon and stars and all of nature. You are not alone, and you have never been alone.
Choose to rise up in love and connection and hope and inspiration.
Don’t be defeated by the fear and anger and belligerence and judgement that is all too often on display in this world, and the systems that seek to crush our souls.
However you can, find courage in your heart to rise up.
And live and act from a place of presence and embrace life and all its challenges with a profound and soulful YES!
P.S. I acknowledge that being a white, middle-class, cis-gender woman likely makes this a lot easier to do than for people who do not hold these privileges.
