The system is fucked.
Of course it is; it’s fundamentally flawed. It’s a system built on the premise of exploiting the many for the benefit of the (very) few. It’s a system built on the oppression of the “other”. It’s characterized by archaic, racist, homophobic, white-man structures.
And I hate that we’re trapped within these structures, seemingly powerless to extricate ourselves from the life-sucking system.
So here’s what I’m doing about it.
If you caught my last post you’ll know that I’ve already issued my rallying cry, my call to (peaceful but powerful) arms.
But I know we need more than just a rallying cry: we need to know how to come together, to collaborate, to unite.
We need to know how to unfuck the system.
I don’t have all of the answers, of course. The problem is too entrenched, too widespread to be solved by one woman and her desire to do more.
But what I do know is that if we all find the courage to make radical choices in our own lives, our choices affect the whole.
If you change, the world has no option but to change in response. It has to respond to how you are and what’s happening. It’s no exaggeration to say that your actions are your character. And when you have the desire to change and that desire translates into action—when the “how” matches the “why”—that’s where true power lies.
So where do we begin?
We begin with radical self-awareness and radical self-care.
Really.
In changing the micro, we change the macro. If every single person on the planet devoted themselves to radical self-awareness and radical self-care, to healing personal trauma, to being radically themSELVES...we'd heal our global issues. Why? Because there’d be nothing left to fight about.
As Audre Lorde so beautifully put it;
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”
If you're being you in the most authentic way, then there's a ripple effect. Connecting with yourself, pushing back on barbaric and oppressive systems, working towards becoming ridiculously healthy...are all radical acts. Unplugging from that machine and plugging into you is a radical act. Refusing to give your power to the system and becoming accountable for your own life is a radical act. Exercising your choice in every single moment is a radical act.
And taken together these radical acts won’t just help you thrive—they’ll create real, tangible, long-lasting change for all of us.
We can't think or wish this new world into existence; we have to LIVE this new world into existence.
So live it.
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Speaking of taking action and unfucking the system: As we're all painfully aware by now, the very same system I've been speaking of this last month or so has been fucking over Indigenous Peoples for several hundred years. We're having our "George Floyd moment" in Canada with the latest revelation—the discovery of the remains of 215 previously unaccounted for children in a mass grave at the former Kamloops Residential School on Tk'emlups te Secwépemc First Nation.
It's evident our Government cares little about keeping their promises, honouring the Treaties, holding responsible parties accountable, and righting the wrongs of the past and present.
So it's up to us.
Not only must we hold their feet to the fire and demand they get busy addressing the 94 Calls to Action in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report, but each of us as individuals must do our part as well. Take some time today to read the Calls to Action and commit to the ones you can.
And...if you'd like to help me raise funds for the Indian Residential School Survivors Society, you can do that by purchasing an ORANGE Love Warrior hoodie from my Gift Shop. For 215 days (May 30 to December 31, 2021)—one for every child—I'll be donating 100% of profits. Sales of the orange hoodies will be tallied and a lump-sum donation will be made to IRSSS on the 215th day.
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Every single one of us benefits from uplifting one another and seeing to it that we all thrive.
Get busy thriving.
While you're at it, remember: “Life takes guts. I love your guts.”
Peace,
L.xo.