It’s not about you – it has never been about you. This is something that I have come to learn recently. A number of situations have arisen, both personal and around me, that led me to think deeply about this. Sometimes we go about life thinking about what we can do for us to feel and live better, without acknowledging what we should be doing to make the world around us better. 

A few years ago I quit my job in a corporate company. I had always been active with social and humanitarian organisations as a volunteer. But when I went back to my daily job, I just couldn’t make sense of it anymore. What was the point of me trying to preach against poverty and injustice, when I was working for a huge ass company, making the rich become richer? So I quit my job and went to work for nonprofit organisations, first a fair trade cooperative, and later in a social, humanitarian organisation. Honestly, it doesn’t make sense to make this switch in terms of personal economy. But with the support of my husband, I feel like finally I could do my part in helping such organisations reach their goal, a goal that I wholeheartedly believe in. 

With time I realised that it is only when you stop concentrating on yourself and work towards making a difference in someone else’s life – that is when you feel most fulfilled. Most of us, me included, tend to go with the flow. Work our asses off so that we have enough money to live comfortably. And unfortunately, this is the kind of world that we are living in. I take a look around me, and see how politics nowadays is governed by money. Long gone are the times when the flourishing of human life and the environment was the centre of it all.

Maybe it is now up to us, the citizens, to take back the reins, try to correct what is wrong in the world. I’m not saying that we should all quit our jobs 🙂 Small changes are enough, such as volunteering with an organisation, buying fair trade products, reducing waste, being kind, helping each other through life, and so on. Life is not a race. We are not here to win. We are here simply to help each other in getting to the other side 🙂

‘Waste no more time arguing about what a good man [or woman] should be. Be one.’ – Marcus Aurelius