(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve’s Tumblr, and Pillowfort. Find out more at my newsletter, and all my social media at my linktr.ee)
2022 seems to be a line of unmitigated tragedy. COVID continues to rampage, Russia invades Ukraine, the economy teeters, the news is full of bullshit, and there are multiple school shootings. Even though we see hope in Ukraine, the other issues wear on us.
I’m sure you feel that grinding awfulness, and in time you want to give up. I can offer you this advice – don’t. Take a rest, take a break, get away, but don’t give up.
The one thing we can do is keep going in the face of all this awfulness. We can fight for what matters, we can stick to what’s meaningful to us, we can not quit. Quitting is the one thing that guarantees a worse world.
This isn’t just a moral statement, it’s a statement about meaning in our lives. When we give up then we’re no longer ourselves, we’re a shadow waiting for harsh light to erase us. In motion there is hope that what matters to us can continue to matter, to sustain, to grow, to return. We need this motion not just to be good people but to stay sane.
Humans are a process. When we stop, we’re just not people, just not ourselves.
So as hard as things are now – and I know they’re hard – don’t give up. Keep going, even if “going” involves a rest for now. Keep being you – that you, that process, might just get us out of this mess, or at least you. Until we get out of this, at least you’ll be yourself when you’re in motion.
Steven Savage