I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about ways to make a positive difference in the world. In the process, I’ve devised, adjusted, and abandoned a lot of plans that I hope will create the changes that I want to see. One of the most important decisions I’ve made in this regard is to focus on direct alternatives and avoid indirect alternatives as much as I can. Most of my past plans focused heavily on indirect alternatives, which meant that I left out a lot of things I can do that don’t depend on anyone else acting a certain way. There is a place for indirect alternatives and I’ve included many of them in my recent plans. However, I think focusing too much on indirect alternatives and neglecting direct alternatives has resulted in failures for many individuals and movements. As with everything else in life, finding the right balance is crucial to achieving and maintaining success.
My current plan doesn’t require everyone, or even a lot of people, to jump on the bandwagon for it to succeed. I benefited a lot from learned and applying useful life hacks long before I ever started sharing them with anyone else, and, at this point, only a handful of people seem to have really tried out the things I discuss on this blog. If my plan accomplishes nothing more than helping myself and a few other people get our lives together, I’ll be satisfied and feel like I’ve accomplished something. However, I have my sights set much higher than that and I’ll use the remainder of this post to describe some of what I’d like to see happen.
I plan to start by helping people heal from their past pain and trauma so that they can rise above it and move into a better life situation. Part of that involves them determining if any of their relationships are toxic and worth leaving. If so, then ending their bad relationships will give them more time and energy for the positive relationships that they choose to keep. At the same time, I’ll work on getting them into a stable financial situation if they’re not already there. That way they’ll be able to support themselves and be as self-sufficient as possible. All of that self-improvement work will put them in a great position to make their dreams come true and assure them that they can accomplish their goals. In addition to giving them a great deal of personal freedom, this will also give them the opportunity to show other people what it’s like to be free. Even if they don’t actively discuss this with anyone else, their friends and family members will still benefit just by being around them, their kids will learn how to manage their emotions and set appropriate boundaries so they’re not hurt nearly as much by life as they could be, and each subsequent generation in their families will be better off than the previous one.
One person who gets their life together can do a tremendous amount of good, so what would happen if a few thousand people did this and each helped a few more people do the same? I don’t know exactly, but I bet it’ll amazing to see. I think it will start slowly but speed up once it gets going and become much more common over time. Eventually, enough people will have their lives together that we’ll reach a tipping point and everything will change. If that’s what ends up happening, then I hope I’m around to see it unfold. And if I don’t get to see it, I’ll still be content with whatever happens while I’m still around.