It Is Up To Us
This blog is devoted to positivity—but first, please indulge me for a moment as we acknowledge the elephant in the room.
As the old saying goes, "You are what you eat," and for decades, we’ve been fed a steady diet of negativity. The result? Many of us have become products of that consumption.
Our media channels have bombarded us with a relentless stream of "breaking news" designed to shock and overwhelm, leaving us fearful, angry, anxious, or confused. Through sensational headlines and clickbait algorithms, we’ve been conditioned to worry about EVERYTHING —especially about things that feel far beyond our control: political agendas, unaffordable housing, inflation, recession, job loss, climate change, and a host of global crises—pandemics, droughts, floods, fires, pollution, war, and corruption. Whew! That’s an exhausting list—and that’s not even counting the personal struggles we each carry.
At times, it feels like we’re being pushed to the brink, tested to see how much pressure we can handle. I don’t know about you, but lately, I’ve had days when I just wanted to curl up in the fetal position and cry, “Mommy, make it stop!” But the truth is—Mommy can’t fix this. And neither can crying about it, or simply pressing on without reflection.
“We have met the enemy, it is us! It is up to us to save ourselves! “– Walt Kelly, Pogo comic
The endless "I'm right, you're wrong" narrative fueling our culture wars has stirred up distrust, division, and resentment in ways we never imagined. We’ve become so busy shouting at each other that we’ve lost sight of a crucial truth: we’re all on the same side—the side of humanity.
We’re at a tipping point where fear is threatening to eclipse hope. We cannot let that happen. We are better than that.
It Starts With Us
We, the people, need to wake up and recognize the truth: we've been programmed to feel angry, afraid, and hopeless.
When we live in lower energies like fear and anxiety—when we let ourselves be triggered, frozen, or numbed—we're working against ourselves. We are giving our power away to the very things we oppose.
Carl Jung once said, “What you resist, persists.” He understood that repressed or ignored emotions often take root and grow stronger in the shadows. When we push away what’s uncomfortable—be it fear, frustration, or sadness—it doesn’t disappear. It grows and makes the problem stronger.
There’s no denying there’s misinformation, disinformation, and sometimes a sliver of truth mixed in. But in the chaos, we still have choice. We decide which voices to listen to and trust, which stories to believe, and which emotions to feed.
Instead of constantly plugging into the feedbag of negativity, we have the choice to withdraw our attention from the chaos—the stuff that makes us anxious, afraid, angry, sad, helpless, and sick.
“Yes, it’s ugly and messy out there. But we don’t have to fall in line with our fears and comply with the ugly.” - Sonia Choquette
I’m not saying we should unplug completely. What I am suggesting is this: be intentional about what you plug into. Let’s stop feeding the negativity beast. Let’s starve it—by refusing to give it our energy, attention, or emotional fuel.
Instead of stoking the flames of the energies that drain us—let’s direct our powerful human energy toward something better. Let’s respond with empathy instead of judgment. Let’s trade doom-scrolling for daydreaming. Instead of asking, “How bad will it get?”, let’s start asking:
· “What good can come from this?”
· What’s the best thing that could happen?”
· “How can I be a source of light in this moment?”
Like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, it’s time for each of us to wake up and realize—we’ve had the power all along.
We can rise above fear-driven narratives. We can seek out stories and experiences that nourish our souls and expand our minds. We can choose content, people, and perspectives that uplift us and positively impact our well-being.
“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” - June Jordan, American poet
My call to action is simple: let’s take back our power by choosing joy, hope, and positivity—over and over again. Not because things are perfect, but because we have the ability to shape what comes next.
It’s not up to governments or corporations to create a better future—it’s up to us. Each of us. Every day.
I believe most of us are kind and compassionate. We each want to feel like we are somehow making the world a better place. I bet you know people like that too. Look around your life. Chances are, very few people you interact with are full of hate or cruelty. Most are just trying to figure it out, like you and me. The chaotic world we find ourselves in can sometimes cause us to forget this essence of our humanity.
We’re ready to restore balance. To bring light where there’s been too much darkness. It begins with each of us holding hope and choosing positivity—especially when it’s hard.
We can change the story. We can reframe the negativity that bombards us daily. We can seek the good, see the good, and be the good—for ourselves and for each other.
And when we do, we begin to turn life’s lemons into some pretty tasty lemonade.
So please continue to join me in the Positive People Project as we wake up to our power, stop resisting, and redirect our energy toward creating a brighter, more united, more compassionate world.
It is up to us.
###
#Positivity #Hope #Empathy #ConsciousLiving #PositivePeopleProject #MindsetMatters #RiseAbove #BeTheLight
