It would be an understatement to say that the past few weeks have been filled with tragedies. We learned about Brock Turner's slap-on-the-wrist sentencing, Christina Grimmie's murder and most recently, the largest mass shooting in recent U.S. history at a gay nightclub in Orlando. Whenever events like these happen (which is all too often), my first reaction is to be surprised that the world continues to go about its business. How can trivial things matter when there is such hurt in all of our hearts?
It’s difficult to move past, and for good reason — these are not events that we should allow ourselves to accept, but unfortunately, they occur at a rate where we can’t process one event before the next one happens. All of a sudden, it seems like there are so many things that I want others to become aware of and pay attention to while simultaneously realizing that there's not much that I can do as an individual. As someone who cares very deeply about many of the issues currently plaguing our world, this is a very troubling time. I find myself feeling frustrated and helpless, especially when I can't decide which tragedy to focus my efforts on at any given moment. When event after event happens, it's also easy to become desensitized to tragedy and decide not to focus on any of them anymore.
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Here's a list of concrete things you can do to help the world and yourself without dampening your spirits (I've attached some links here to causes I care a lot about):
Let yourself process
1. Allow yourself to be upset. All of these events are things that are tragic, and it's OK to be sad about them. Your initial reaction may be to try and fix it in any way that you know how, but if you need to process it first, that's perfectly healthy.
2. Don't feel like you have to be "over" one event by the time the next thing happens. It's fine to have a compounded level of upsetness and be angry at the injustice of the world. Along the same lines, it's fine to discuss things out of order — all of them are things that need to be addressed.
Talk about it
3. Have the uncomfortable conversations. A big part of "doing something" is spreading awareness about these issues. Take time to find out why people who disagree with you feel the way they feel and have a reasonable conversation together so you can both get a better understanding of each others' viewpoints.
4. Talk to people who make you happy. As good as it is to talk to people who don’t agree with you, there is a lot of comfort to attain from talking to someone who understands your frustrations and can remind you that you’re not crazy for feeling the way you feel.
Take action
5. Send emails to your senators and representative if you want political action to be taken. Sign petitions if there are specific things that you want addressed.
6. Read in depth about various issues and pick a few that you are especially passionate about and see if you can actually do more about them! If there is an organization at school you can join (or even start) or somewhere you can volunteer that works to remedy any of these, that is a fantastic way to get extra involved in fixing an issue.
7. Make a financial contribution, if you are able. An easy way to do this without feeling an additional burden is through AmazonSmile — you can choose to have a portion of every eligible Amazon purchase be donated to a charity of your choice through no extra charge to you!
Keep yourself happy
8. Make a list of reasons to be happy! When it seems like the whole world is awful, it can be helpful to have a physical list of things in your life that aren’t. It’s also super nice to look back on later when you have these written down.
9. Reach out to a few friends you’ve lost touch with. There’s a very special feeling that comes from reconnecting with someone who you haven’t talked to in a while, and reminiscing on an old friendship is a remarkable pick-me-up when you’re feeling upset.
Start the change with yourself
10. Don't let yourself fall into the "these things happen" trap and try to think deeply about the underlying societal ideals that contribute to these events. Is there a personal change that you can make within yourself and your attitudes to make the world a better place? That's the best place to start — with yourself and the way you treat the world.
