Three of my favourite sayings to get you through the rest of the week
CARE CAREER COURAGE 🌱 BLOG #3
CARE CAREER COURAGE is your weekly dose of eco-friendly refuel when you need one (no oil-schooled thinkers featured).
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Hello friends,
I’m sticking to my promise of a newsletter a week! I know it’s not the usual day… but nevertheless it’s here.
I’ve been doing lots of other writing for a TEDx talk I somehow got myself into. The script is finally done. But now I have to learn it?? 🫠.
Wish me luck 💚
What makes you feel alive?
For me, it’s being innovative.
There’s a problem - a whole host of them in fact - and you're trying to find a solution. What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? What are the opportunities? What are the threats?
Ideas! Ideas! Ideas! *difficult thinking* *pondering* *analysising*… More ideas!
This is just a reminder to find what brings you a sense of satisfaction day to day, whether it makes your brain tick or your heart race. Whether it’s in your day job or in a side project. Whether it’s in the corporate world or in the start-up world. Whether it’s for your friends or your self-growth.
Find what you care for and make sure to feed that need. Don't bottle it up, don’t numb it out, don’t find a distraction, don’t dismiss its value, and for God’s sake - don’t save it for late in life. Every day is your life.
I think it’s time I find a youth climate community group.
I don’t know why I've never thought about it before. I tried XR, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, local council partnerships, Transition Towns, community gardens, networking events for professionals... none of them have quite done it for me.
It wasn’t until the Blue Earth Summit that I met quite a few people my age really interested in sustainability. In ways most similar to myself. Many were attending thanks to a climate youth group of some kind. I feel I have heard of these groups, mainly through the media led by the likes of Greta or engaged in political action. Why have I never connected myself to joining these groups? Well, I reckon it’s because never saw myself in these youth activists, they weren’t people I related to. My perceptions of these individuals have been conflicting; courageous political leaders, outspoken from a very young age, controversial figures, difficult to handle, and I suppose, undertaking actions unlinked to my day-to-day life.
Now I’m growing into the climate and politics space, I’m realising that after all, like you and I, they are the leaders of the future. Our generation will be starting to take positions of power in not too long now (🤞). And, whilst we wait, there are still many places where we should be at the table involved in future-altering discussions. I recently heard the theory of having a youth representative included on boards of directors. This made something click in my head.
Thinking about it, these youth climate clubs sound like exactly where I need to be. I want to be inspired, motivated and challenged to push myself to new boundaries and become an even stronger player in this economy for a more sustainable future.
If you can’t see it, you can’t be it. It’s time to surround ourselves with caring and courageous youth leaders.
(feature continued from blog #2)…
As one of the panellists put it; we are trying to remove all signs of darkness in our lives, but darkness in itself is not bad. One of my favourite sayings is light can't shine without darkness. If we try to minimise or avoid ‘turbulent' experiences in our lives - there would be no middle to our stories - the conflict resolutions never come. By removing the possibilities of uncomfortable periods, our growth through them is stunted. I think many of us know this too, as today’s Gen Z likes to refer to such experiences as “character development” - perhaps why it is such is just not deeply thought about and therefore acknowledged.
The point is, that we can struggle to get through these critical 'downs' between the 'ups', when we no longer carry with us the myths passed down through generations that remind us that we are on a journey. That, when you are in a tough period it's just a phase, you will get through it and come out stronger on the other side. If we don't believe in these story arcs and dismiss them as childish or only for fictional movies, then we risk getting stuck in the duller times either because we're fearful of growth and stay unfulfilled, or we get lost in the downs and unable to emerge on the other side.
... I have just realised I still live my life day-to-day through many myths! The sayings and quotes I follow are exactly this. Lessons from stories I carry as reminders that I'm on a journey.
Circling back to the challenge of unlearning scripts which are handed to us by other people’s agendas, a part of us wants to fulfil our childhood dreams - a dream job, relationship, house etc - and the other part wants to break free of these unfulfilling end goals, in exchange for exploring our own life.
So it’s time to combat myths with myths. The only way to dismiss a previous one is to override it with another. One more worthy. Don’t just tell yourself you can’t have one script and narrative without giving yourself another to live by. What is a successful life to you? We all need myths and morals of stories to get us through the tougher times.
Stay caring and courageous,
Isabelle