If you’re at the end of your rope lately, it’s no surprise; the 21st century zeitgeist is almost perfectly designed to destroy your mental health. The unending worldwide news cycle combined with the scolding tone of social media creates an atmosphere where we’re railroaded into thinking mostly about things that lie far outside our influence, and at the same time shamed for not acting on them.

No one can live like that.

If you haven’t seen the introduction to the “Make Things Better” idea, I recommend you check it out in the archives before reading on, as I’m trying this week to build on what I’ve written before. Once you’re on board with the general idea of focusing on matters that lie within your reach, let’s dig in a little bit into what that looks like in practice.

Start With Self

The end goal is to become someone who has a genuine positive impact on others and the world at large, but most of us are not there yet. It’s genuinely not safe to start trying to change the world until you have your feet solidly beneath you. Thanks to the nonsensical priorities of 21st century society, even basic stability can be surprisingly hard to accomplish. If you’ve managed that much, this newsletter will mostly be review for you.