Pick Your Battles and Know Your Allies
What can you do in the face of this madness?
How the fuck did we get here? Why do they think starting a trade war will do anyone any good at all? Oh, right, because they only care about what lines their pockets and fuck the rest of us.
I’m scared. I can’t deny that. Watching the nation that I call home being ripped apart by this ludicrous, unconscionable excuse for a human being and his sycophants is depressing, horrifying, upsetting, and infuriating. Why those with the ability to put this madman in check refuse to act is beyond comprehension.
The biggest, most maddening thing about this is that there isn’t a damned thing I can do. I voted in the election, I can make calls, send emails, attend protests, and boycott many of the offensive companies supporting this shitshow. And that’s about it.
Accepting that there is nothing more I can do about this is distressing. People I care about are being impacted, and there is nothing I can do.
Chances are, you feel this, too. If you have any kindness, compassion, and empathy in your soul, I presume you’re feeling this. Hence, like me, you probably feel a bit hopeless, afraid, uncertain, stressed, and lost – or some combination therein.
What can you do? Pick your battles and know your allies.
Pick your battles
At this point, the only thing you and I can do is stay strong, not let them eradicate our hope, and remain vigilant and vocal to keep them from overwhelming and overcoming us.
Pick your battles. What that looks like for you is likely not the same as what it looks like for me, but I imagine there are similarities.
For example, reading all about it, watching the news like it’s your job, diving deep into every awful decision, post, and message from the madhouse will only expand the negatives. Knowing every single move Trump, Musk, and the rest of the nightmare fuelers make does nothing but disempower us.
There is no reason for me to be that deeply aware and inundated with these happenings. Knowing the basics, unless it’s having an immediate, direct impact on me, is enough. I don’t need the elaborate, detailed, minute-by-minute news and information.
When you pick your battles, this is a part of that. I voted in the election and will vote in the next. I’ll attend protests if they speak to me.
One place, however, where I can pick my battles is to boycott many of the businesses that support this awfulness. I will choose to avoid and give no money to people and companies willfully supporting this administration. Also, I’ll participate in no-shopping mass-boycott events.
The problem is that I cannot boycott and avoid them all. For example, my ISP is the only option I have in my area, so I must use them or lose my livelihood and platform. If there is a future alternative (that I can select without going bankrupt), I’ll choose anew.
This is why you both pick your battles and know your allies.
Know your allies
The dominant narrative of society’s current collective consciousness leans towards being against. Everywhere you turn, they tell you to stand against this, form resistance against that, and so on.
This has the unfortunate side effect of lowering our collective frequency because it’s a matter of negativity. It’s subtle and seemingly innocuous. But it’s not. Look at the most terrible people and organizations in the world today. Every single one of them is exclusively taking a stand against this, that, or the other thing.
To shift this, we need to be more proactive. That is a matter of taking a stand FOR rather than AGAINST. Be FOR this, that, or the other thing. Stand up for kindness, compassion, and empathy rather than against the lack of them.
Getting to know your allies is not just a metaphor. It’s recognition of those in similar circumstances, seeing the same shit that you are, and being for the same things. Be for peace, kindness, compassion, inclusivity, diversity, and all similar good things.
What’s more, when you know your allies, you see that you’re not alone. You can see that there are others of the same mindset, looking for similar means to shift to something better than the bullshit we’re facing now.
However – and this is super important – accept that your allies are imperfect. For example, I am a white, middle-aged, straight, cis-gendered male. Hence, I cannot fully understand or experience the plight of the LGBTQA+ community, people of color, women, immigrants, and so on. I am an imperfect ally, but I am still an ally.
We are stronger together, even imperfectly. When you pick your battles, you are more empowered when you take imperfect allies into the field with you.
Pick your battles and know your allies
There is little to nothing you and I can do about all the terrible government, business, religious, and other so-called leaders. You can allow yourself to be overwhelmed by the news of every little awful thing they do – or you can pick your battles in a more empowering way.
Alongside your allies, you can pick your battles to attend protests, boycott people and greedy corporate entities, and take local steps to stand for better, kinder, more compassionate entities. It might not seem like much, but when you pick your battles with greater care and consideration, you become more empowered. More empowered people take back the world from the forces that strive to disempower and control through lies, deceit, false scarcity, lack, and insufficiency.
I know that in reality, there are more of us who give a fuck about not just ourselves, but other people we know and don’t know. Together, if we pick our battles and know our allies, we can stay strong and prevail in the face of this madness.
Do you see how much more you’re empowered and what you can do when you pick your battles and know your allies?
This is the six-hundred-eighty-ninth (689) exploration of my Pathwalking philosophy. These weekly essays are my ideas for – and experiences with – applying mindfulness and positivity to walk along a chosen path of life to consciously create reality.
I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world and empower as many people as I can with conscious reality creation.
Thank you for joining me. Feel free to repost and share this.
The first year of Pathwalking, including expanded ideas, is available here. Check out my author website for the rest of my published fiction and nonfiction works.
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