Everyone is sad. You’re not special.
How can we navigate the paradox that eco-anxiety makes us feel so alone, and yet these feelings are widely experienced?
I remember seeing Gabby’s words when she made this post a while back, and Meghan’s video makes them hit even harder. Eco-anxiety isn’t a badge of honour, and it isn’t the solution to anyone’s problems. She writes: “if we aren’t careful, our egos will turn our sorrow into something that separates us from other people.” I appreciate this call to reflect on how my own emotional reaction to “now times” has the power to either drive me deeper into self-righteous avoidance, or toward deeper solidarity and activation.
Take 2.5 minutes and slow down as you watch Meghan’s video below. Think about how your relationships are being impacted by the dissonance we’re all experiencing (and feel free to rage a bit – this is stuff is frustrating!). Think about how your privilege might be leveraged for meaningful change. Think about the energy you give to your fears and the tenderness you give to your hope. Think about how you might allow eco-anxiety to make you more loving.
What are you going to do about how you feel? What support do you need to do it? – RMC
A word from the maker
“I think most of us who’ve felt grief and anxiety over the climate crisis have felt very isolated in those feelings at some point. Going about daily activities and making small talk feels empty and discordant when ecological collapse is occupying your thoughts. Gabby’s words here struck me and stuck with me because they spoke to the fact that these feelings matter and are important, but to try not to let them isolate us from other people. I’ve formed some meaningful and deep friendships through sharing my feelings and grieving with other people. I hope that other people hear and resonate with these words like I did.” – Meghan Mast, Filmmaker and Community Organizer
Get in touch with Meghan or see more of her work on LinkedIn.
Thanks to Briarpatch and Geez Magazine for letting us use images from their magazines.
More from Meghan
Caring at the End of the World
It feels like the end of the world. Every day, catastrophically bad news. People are suffering, facing ongoing systemic oppression. In these times, how do we care for ourselves, each other and the natural world? When my friend Joni and I decided to make this scene series we were really feeling very overwhelmed and afraid, and it sort of grew out of an attempt to focus on what it is that we that we did have control over. The way that we take care of ourselves, the way that we take care of the other people in our lives, and the way that we take care of the world in our sort of immediate vicinity.
More reflection videos
Keep the contemplation coming.
Here are more videos to help you move through your eco-anxiety.
Making art while the world is burning with Halena Seiferling