Monday Notes: What to Focus on During Unprecedented Times

Here we are, fraught with worry, wondering how we arrived in this wild simulation. I know it’s easy to either ignore what’s going on altogether or to be so consumed with daily occurrences that you begin to live in a space of fear and despair. However, I am here to present a third option—create the type of world you’d want to live in, beginning with yourself and the people nearest and dearest to you.

adrienne maree brown once wrote that “confusion is a colonial tactic,” and it is no secret that some countries are master colonizers.1 Historically, colonialism has been the so-called western world’s modus operandi—just ask people indigenous to their country, as well as any African or descendants who are African. The practice hasn’t changed, but tactics have. In an information age, with a 24-hour news cycle and where most of us are consumers and not creators, it is easy to remain perpetually confused and hopeless. Smoke and mirrors blind us to sweeping changes made in plain sight as well as behind closed doors. Add to that a myriad of ways to check out, and I understand how easy it is to become apathetic.

But we must resist the urge to disassociate completely not only from current events, but also ourselves.

Clarity remedies confusion. And clarity begins with self. Political events matter, and we should educate ourselves on basic intended and unintended consequences. However, you know what else is important? Clarity of one’s life. Everything we do as individuals impacts others. So, let’s start with these questions:

What do you value? How do you see your role in the country, in the world? How do you want to contribute to the collective?

If you are clear about these answers, then you’ll know what deserves your attention. You’ll know how to proceed, how to be productive. If you don’t, you’ll be manipulated by 21st-century colonial tactics.

Next, we should consider what it means to be in community. Well before 2025, many social justice activists and histofuturists have advocated for a more community-centered approach to living that included a plan for how to survive the so-called end times. Some of this advice sounded fear based to me; however, whether we are facing mass destruction or not, it will always be important to care about the communities in which we live: the people who live next door, those with whom we work, and those with whom we fellowship. But you know what else is important? How you care for yourself and your family, that’s what.

So, my advice here is two-fold. First, it is imperative, especially now, to turn inward. Advice to focus on oneself may seem counterintuitive, but I am not referring to the negative attributes of individualism that so-called western countries have mastered. Instead, we should learn and practice small and relevant ways to be better versions of ourselves today, so that we can create a different future for ourselves and others tomorrow. This is possible. I know because the behavioral changes I made over a decade ago have significantly altered how my husband, daughters, and I relate to one another today. Furthermore, I know my actions effected each of their lives in a way that rippled outward to those with whom they are intimately connected because I’ve witnessed it. This type of focus on self can shift what it means to “change the world.”

Secondly, how we interact in families matters. This isn’t tied to calls for a return to so-called traditional family values rooted in patriarchy, but rather a new vision for changing how you love your family—a structure that represents our first communities. Today, we know that past relationships shape future ones. And while we can’t return to the past, we can interact in healthier ways today, which is bound to change the future. With that said, we should constantly be considering ways to treat our family members better. I suggest pondering these questions:

How do you currently treat the people with whom you are related? Are you inclusive or exclusive? Do you offer compassion and grace or indifference and insolence?

Your answers can determine next steps, but only if you want to do better.

I do not offer this advice from a high horse. Oftentimes, I wonder how and if I need to extend olive branches to those who continue to act indifferent towards me. Either way, figuring out this balance seems integral. It is unrealistic to expect cultural and global shifts, while relating in pockets of dysfunction with those whom we share a familial connection. After all, the world is a macrocosmic mirror. How can we care about immigration more than we care about the sibling we refuse to speak to due to a childhood grudge?

I hope what I’ve proposed makes sense. I know it easier to watch the pettiness of billionaires than it is to be introspective and to become a better person. It seems more useful to fret over political theater than it is to improve one’s life. I get it. But at the end of the day, even if all structures crumble and fall and the world you once knew ceases to exist, the sole thing you can control will always be…you.

Brown, Adrienne Maree. Loving corrections. Emergent Strategies Series (2024).
Harvard ︎