Heartbreak
A Path to Purpose
This week was hard.
I don’t know if it’s me, or if it’s something in the air, or if it’s something astrological, or if I’ve been reading too much news, but this week broke my heart. Multiple times. I had to look away.
There were the remains of the 215 children found at a residential school in British Columbia. Remans of another 104 children were also found in Manitoba. These schools closed in the 1990’s. 4,100 children died in these schools from malnutrition and disease. It’s not ancient history. It’s us. It happened under our watch.
Another BC news item is the clear-cutting of old-growth trees, after the Premier promised to protect them. Now, he’s sending in the RCMP to ensure these 1,000 year old trees get cut down and turned into toilet paper or whatever we humans deem as more important than 1,000 year old trees. The Fairy Creek Blockade and others are doing everything they can to protect the trees, but why can’t the politicians and everyone just come to their senses and say, “Oh, yeah, maybe we shouldn’t cut down all the 1,000 year old trees.” Der.
And then there is the animal abuse. I follow a lot of horse rescues on my socials. So many skinny abused horses horribly injured horses, starving to death, babies left motherless. Why do we live in a world where we even have to rescue these innocent beings? Why can’t the heartless people just stop being so heartless?
The world is a shit show.
Sometimes I hesitate to share what breaks my heart. Perhaps these are white privilege things to care about.
Because, what about war? What about dictatorships? What about all the children? What about LGBTQ issues? What about Black Lives Matter? What about all the women and their invisible, unpaid work? What about climate change? What about breast cancer? What about eldercare? What about covid? If you’re a human, you know this is only a partial list.
I don’t know. All I know is that they break my heart.
The world is a shit show.
But, then ...
But then I see Fairy Creek Blockade and the brave people who are sitting in the trees and chaining themselves to trucks to stop the forward march of clear- cutting.
But then, I see Clair at Skydog Sanctuary pulling another frightened and mustang from the BLM lots and reuniting them with their families.
But then, I see Greta Thunburg launch one of her razor-sharp epithets about climate change.
The "Shoulds"
You care about what you care about, and what you care about can be a clue to your purpose. Believing you “should” care about other things can take you off track.
To clarify, it’s not that you don’t care about the many problems of the world, but there are some that really break your heart. They call to you.
What breaks your heart out there in the big, bad world? What tugs at you when it comes into sight? When do you say, “someone should do something”, maybe that someone is you.
Start where you are means to simply take that step in front of you. You don’t have to be Greta and sail across the Atlantic to make a difference.
Start where you are and take the next obvious step. Even if it seems small and only marginally connected to what is tearing at your heart.
- volunteer at an animal shelter,
- go to a rally; show up at a blockade,
- You don’t have to run a rescue; Save one horse, one dog, one cat.
Answer the call.
Get tunnel vision.
Often when you see a hero saving their corner of the world, they’ve been at it for years. it just doesn’t look like it. So, don’t compare what someone else is doing with what is calling you. Don’t let the job seem so big and “out there” that you never do anything.
Care about what you care about. Do something about that. Don’t be like them. Be like you. Stop looking at what you “should” be doing (but never do it), and focus on your corner of the world. Get tunnel vision and focus on what’s calling you.
The world needs you just as you are.
Be you. Care about what you care about. Take the smallest possible step towards making the difference you want to make. That’s all you have to do.
The world needs help in so many ways, and it needs you to be just who you are and to help in the way that calls to you.
Get out of heartbreak city by noticing what breaks your heart. It can be a path to your purpose.