Overcoming the Monster: A Plea for Not Looking Away

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Photo by Mike Erskine on Unsplash

Hey friends,

This week, I wanted to send over a personal message to relay some of the feelings I’ve been having over the last few weeks, because I feel like many of us can relate to the emotions and mindset. This is a heavier message, but it comes from a heartfelt place of recent experience. I hope the message resonates with you.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been working through a lot of emotions. There is so much going on in the world right now; so much pain, suffering, and hardship. Entire peoples are being erased, countries are being destroyed, and futures are being taken by the work of those who choose greed and power over humanity.

It’s been heartbreaking to stand by and watch.

There have been many times when I’ve found myself angry and upset, frustrated that I am standing on the sidelines and feeling useless when I know I’m capable of helping. It’s as if every bone in my body is begging me to get involved, but my brain gets overwhelmed with decisions, where do we start? How can we help?

And at the same time, many of us are doing our best to simply survive, working through our own hardships and trying to find ways to be more successful, efficient, and stable in this life. It’s hard to find energy for action when it feels like we barely have enough for ourselves.

At times, these feelings and the need to help have overwhelmed me, and I find myself having to look away because I can only take so much. I find myself isolating or running away, trying to pretend the world doesn’t exist.

But then, last week, at a protest, I was watching a few of the young volunteers who were leading the rally, yelling chants of love and peace, while they looked out for other people’s safety. Their bravery inspired me. Here they were, just finished high school, their whole futures ahead of them, finding a way to look their fear straight in the face and taking action.

It was at that moment, standing amid thousands of caring people going out of their way to raise their voice, that I realized something: I don’t want to look away.

I don’t want to turn a blind eye and pretend the world doesn’t exist. I don’t want to stop caring about climate change, environmental justice, social issues, and basic human rights. Because in many ways, I think that’s what they want.

Yes, there are healthier ways to care than doomscrolling through news sites, updating them every few seconds to find out about the most recent bombing, arrest, or environmental rollback.

Looking away completely, though, cannot be an option.

It reminds me of when we were kids and we were scared of the monster in our closet or the dark hallway at the end of the room. If we hid under our covers and closed our eyes, then we could pretend that everything was okay and it wasn’t there.

Unlike the fictional monsters under our bed or in our closet, though, these atrocities will still be there. They will still happen. And eventually, that monster will come for us all.

So, we have to look. We have to face it. Because that’s the only way it will become easier to see the horrors and find a way to defeat them. Like any problem, we have to understand it and get to know it in order to find a solution.

Now, this isn’t a message to bring you down or degrade anyone for having looked away. Trust me, I’ve looked away plenty of times in my life.

Instead, I want to offer something else. A nudge or reminder to keep looking.

But instead of just looking, face the fear, and channel it into little actions. For example, if you care about environmental issues, get involved with a local non-profit cleaning up the beach. If you care about human rights or social justice, volunteer at a local shelter or see how you can get involved with local community meetups.

And most of all, don’t do it alone. Talk to other people about your feelings. Share the difficult things and the challenges you are facing. Ask friends to help you get involved. Help friends get involved. And most importantly, check in on the people you love.

This community. This comradery. This is how we fight back and make change. We refuse to look away. We refuse to let the monster win. Instead, we come together, through love and humanity, and stand together. We uplift each other. We help each other. And we look these problems straight in the face, with the community of people behind us, and fight for something better.

Because trust me, friends, we can make a difference. It might not change the world, but it will change someone’s world. And just like water, these thousands of little actions, moving together over time, have the power to move mountains.

So, here I am reminding us both.

Don’t let yourself sink under the covers and hide from the monster. Do not turn away. Instead, look it in the eyes and make your own light in the dark.