“Never doubt that asmall groupof thoughtful, committed,citizenscan change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
– Margaret Mead
You can be the change. I want tocontinue a conversation I had on the beach the other day, with two lovely young men from Germany (that’s where I am from, too), who are traveling and working online. We got to talk for quite some while about a lot of different things, but the last bit of the conversation is, what stuck with me.
So let’s dive in. The last bit of our conversation was aboutthe patriarchy, how men suffer from itgreatly these days, why knowing these things are important andwhat politics got to do with it.
Conversations create change
It all started when we talked about my bookThe T.I.M.E. Methodand Tim asked me whether I believe that longer periods of time of hustle & grinding (say 12+ hour days of work) are necessary to succeed andmy answer was a firm but clear: No.
I went on to explainwhere much of the productivity push comes fromand why the hustle culture has gone to extremes now. We went on to talk more about what the patriarchy has to do with all of that and why it is harmful to men, too. Because of this topic, I used a few examples what access to opportunities, equality, equity and the likes look like. Which brought us topolitics and how we can affect change.
We talked about the current political climate in Germany, which is scary to say the least (but don’t worry, no one can trump Donald on that one) and what the guys are doing to create positive change ..
And then I heard what I’ve heard, read and seen so often: “I am only one person, what can I even do?!”
So before I will go a little deeper into this, let me show you something:
Harriet Tubman
(photo H. B. Lindsley), c. 1870. A worker on the Underground Railroad, Tubman made 13 trips to the South, helping to free over 70 people.
John Tradescant the Elder
An English gardener and collector who amassed a vast collection of rare plants and animals, and was instrumental in establishing the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.
Irena Sendler
During the Holocaust, Irena Sendler, a Polish social worker and teacher, risked her life to save approximately 2,500 Jewish children from certain death
Create real change
Three people. Three single lives to do something to impact change. And hundreds of thousands of lives impactedeither directly or continuously through the actions they have once done.
Today I believe we often care too much about how big the immediate change is we create or how many people we will help. Maybe it is because we are so addicted to the dopamine hit it gives us. Or maybe because we are secretly seeking validation by helping others.
I kinda blame the online marketing space of the recent decade a little for that one because there wasn’t a moment when you opened your Facebook or Instagram account and someone loudly proclaimed “I am here to help a Million people change their lives by (xyz)”. I am sure some of them do. But to be honest this whole helping a million people change their lives thing got out of hand.
Every second person in the Online Business space had this on their profile bio and what did they do? They often sold you a product you didn’t need, a service that didn’t get the results they promised and surely didn’t help a million people save or change their lives.
So why do we care so much if our actions help one or a million people? Is helping one person not good enough? It seems like we close the circle here on the hustle culture that teaches us that everything must be faster, harder, stronger and better.
ButI want to make my case on why we should help one person to change their livesand why that one person should be you.
To be the change
Let me share a bit about why changing your life, and keep staying interested, informed and in the picture, will help change other people’s lives.
When I left Germany over 10 years ago, I knew I still had to do a lot of work in front of me. I started doing mindset and some alternative work when I was 13, because I just didn’t believe what the doctors told me about my chronic illnesses and my life. I simply didn’t want to accept their future predictions for me.
To be honest, I never believed they knew what they were talking about, becauseI knew they didn’t know me. They didn’t know who they were making these predictions about.
So I went on to beat all the odds. Every single one of them. To say it was and is my biggest challenge, the greatest frustration and also the place where I grow the most is the most underrated statement.
What I do know though is, that since I started talking, writing and sharing publicly about my life, on facebook, in my first book, in person and in my public talks, I have changed many people’s lives.
Change starts with you
Some of these people started traveling soloand have told me it was me who encouraged them to do so and how it changed their lives. Some of them have changed or quit their toxic jobs after I told them about my journey and reached out to me later to tell me how much it changed their lives.
And thenthere are others who I have never met, never heard of or knew they existed – who somehow either read my book, or some of my posts or were told about me – who after years and years reach out to tell me about the impact I had on their lives or I randomly meet them in person or someone else tells me about them.
Now I want to be clear that this doesn’t happen on a daily basis, butit happens enough for me to know one thing:
Working on myself, learning about and breaking down my own biases and unhealthy beliefs about other humans, continuously healing from trauma, chronic illness, hardship & excruciating pain – and sharing my journey …
Has changed – and even saved – peoples lives.
And that is all I know to keep going. To keep learning. To keep educating myself. To keep healing. To keep sharing.
So today (you knew there was something for you right?)I’d love for you to think about, where do you have some biasesthat you could start educating yourself more on?
Is it your bias on autism/adhd and other neurodiversities?
Is it your political bias towards the opposition or maybe your complete disinterest in politics? Is it your bias on racism or do you think you don’t have a racial bias?
Is it your bias on transgender, same sex love and nonbinary people and their rights?
What your bias on reproductive rights?
And what about mixing your religious beliefs with constitutional human rights of all people?
We all have biases that need constant questioning, unlearning and education.
If we want to help other people and we want to create change, then the change needs to start with us.
What will you start changing today?
Ps. I’d actually love to hear what it is, so if you feel like having a conversation about it, click the button below toreply to meand just tell me a bit more about what change you’ll create in your world from now on…
Seeking Truth
– Weekly(ish) explorations about life, death and the truth between it all
In these letters, sent to your inbox whenever inspiration hits me, I’ll explore the connection between the neuroscience, psychology, grounded spirituality and philosophy that determines our human potential and the deep desire to live a life of freedom.
I will talk about death and the metaphysical, too so if that creeps you out, I suggest to stay away.
My goal is to share my truth about life, death and everything in between – and help you ask the right questions to find your own.
My writings are a mix of sharing knowledge, wisdom and experiences while questioning the status quo and hoping to inspire you to question your own way of living each and every day, so you too can create a truthful life.
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