Recently, I had a conversation with a family friend about outlooks on life and it reminded me how much I still believe in the value of having ideals.  He’s in grad school to be a filmmaker and expressed doubt that he was doing the work he should be doing if he cared so much about the world’s problems.

I'm currently taking an optimistic realist approach to life, but posited that people who want to change the world absolutely need to be idealistic about their causes because what fuel would keep them going otherwise?

There isn't enough time for us to do all the jobs we want to do or think we should do.  And the problems in this world can seem so big that if we go down the rabbit hole, it can feel like there’s no point in trying, everything’s going to shit, and we should just netflix and order takeout to give ourselves one small slice of joy while we still can.

But if someone’s idealistic about the power of storytelling and how much seeing themselves represented on a theater screen matters, then that’s exactly the work they should be doing.  Otherwise, no one would write books, paint paintings, or make movies that teach us, help us feel seen, show us a different perspective, or make us laugh.

Or if you believe in saving the environment by using a metal straw, going vegan, running analytics for Beyond Meat, marketing a plastic wrap alternative, or doing business development for a renewable energy startup, all that adds up to serving your ideal.

It DOES NOT have to be big and grand to matter.  

There are endless ways for the thing(s) you're idealistic about to come to life.  Which means there are endless ways for you to contribute to the world you believe in.  

Changing the world isn’t done by any one person even if your name is Ghandi, King, Oprah, Jobs, or Kardashian.  It's easy to forget that it’s done by individual actions, every day, on all sorts of projects, big and small, all over the globe.  

Idealistic is not an adjective I use to describe myself these days, though it used to be one of the first.  But this conversation reminded me that I’m far less effective and useful to this world if I don’t do work that's most compelling to me that sits at the intersection of personal ideals and world value.  And that I’m an absolute idealist about the power of care, awareness, and empathy to change the world (which starts with helping people do work they want to be doing and live lives they want to be living). 

Asking yourself “What am I idealistic about?” isn’t the only question to help you consider how to spend your time, but it’s a good place to start.

The domino and cumulative effect of each of us doing a little something to serve our ideals is massive and it'd be a shame for us to not try.  


Much Love,

Pam