Can climate grief be fuel for action?
A break from the podcast, a re-entry for my writing.
Last Friday, I ran an eco-anxiety workshop with Katherine for our sustainability professionals group coaching programme. I was sharing all the ways in which I’ve learnt we can manage our climate emotions.
And in the evening I got hit heavy by my own climate emotions.
When I was 21, I spent a few months travelling around central America. Earlier that year, I had organised a TEDx event at my university and one of the speakers (who was the Guinness world record holder for being the first person to go to every country without flying), had won an island in a competition (!) that was in Panama.
So I went out to visit them on my travels and spent a couple of weeks living on Jinja island. I would spend my days hacking up coconuts with a machete, weaving palm leaves, helping out with projects on the island (I learnt how to use a back-pack petrol-powered lawn mower!), playing with their dog, going snorkeling, cooking, reading, playing card games and going out on boat trips to see dolphins. I was living totally unaware of environmental issues.
Last Friday, a picture came up on my instagram of the island completely flooded by sea water and the owner was out there trying to sort it and raise money to build sea defences. The sea flooding had killed most of the plants on the island. His fundraising campaign was called Jinja Island vs global warming.
It really hit home. I can see it on the news. I can intellectually know that sea levels are rising and that millions of people are living on low lying land at risk of flooding, and I care about that, but when it suddenly comes into your world, it hits different. It feels real. It’s here.
My catastrophising mind goes to - well the sea level will just rise above the sea defences at some point so what’s the point? Then it goes to all the other places around the world, which are far more populated, where lives, livelihoods, towns and cities are at risk of sea level rise and people don’t necessarily have the resources or the money to ‘fix’ it, and again I think can we stop this, what happens if the sea just keeps rising?
A part of me thought I was done with being knocked sideways by climate emotions, I’ve done so much work on how to manage them, I know how to deal with them.
But allowing them to come, acknowledging them, accepting them as an inevitable part of life, because I care and because it’s a normal human reaction to feel this in the face of what’s happening, I’ve realised is an important step to letting them pass.
So I cried. I allowed myself to feel. I named that I felt grief, sadness, overwhelm, fear, powerlessness. I noticed the heat of the blood under my skin, the sting of the tears in my eyes. I allowed myself to feel, and I breathed into it and allowed the feelings to be there and I wrote this.
And the feeling passed, and then I remembered that’s the work. The work is not to not feel emotions anymore. The work is to fully lean into the emotions and welcome them as an important messenger and part of me.
I've noticed how much more capable I am now to shift states - quite quickly I went from being in deep climate grief to finding peace and comfort in the here and now. I used to be completely debilitated by climate grief, it was all I would think about and defined my life. Now I can process the emotion and then identify what I need (in this case it was sleep, connection and being heard) and that’s something that has come from learning and practice (this great diagram from New World Together is based on nonviolent communication and helps you to identify emotions and what we may need in response to those feelings).
We talked in our group coaching session about the power of climate emotions as motivators and drivers for us to do the work we do. The more I know, the more real world natural disasters keep happening, the closer it gets to home, the more motivated I am to do what I can to help.
I only have one life and a finite amount of time on this planet, I want to use my life to make a contribution in the best way I know how.
I've spent a long time searching for best way to contribute to a better future.
So in the next episode of my podcast I will be sharing my vision, it’s my story of how I think change will happen and what I want to be part of creating to build a better future.
And the best way I have found to do that is to:
Be my authentic self.
Not the ‘I’m not enough’ version of me.
Not the ‘it’s all on me to save the world’ version of me.
Not the ‘I’m afraid people will judge me so I’ll hide parts of myself’ version of me.
Not the ‘I need to conform and be successful in the traditional sense’ version of me.
Not the ‘the world’s going to end, what difference can I make’ version of me.
The version of me that transcends those beliefs, that can let those stories go, that can step into my full authenticity and live a life fully aligned with my values. So with that:
My desire to contribute to a better future, will be the reason I overcome my perfectionism and the beliefs that hold me back.
My desire to contribute to a better future, will drive me to challenge my beliefs on what it means to live a happy and fulfilled life, I'll focus on seeking inner contentment and peace over external experiences to make me happy.
My desire to contribute to a better future, will be the reason I will share open-heartedly and speak the uncomfortable or the unsaid.
My desire to contribute to a better future, will be greater than my ego that identifies with stories about who I am, used to be or need to be for other people.
My desire to contribute to a better future, will be greater than my fear of being judged or fear of putting myself out there.
My desire to contribute to a better future, will be why I will always lead with love, not fear, I will focus on being present, open-minded, accepting and non-judgemental.
My desire to contribute to a better future, will mean I will continue to find out what is really important to me, what my values are, what my unique strengths are, what brings me joy, what the essence of me is. Because I know when I live and work from that place, my potential for impact explodes.
The best way I've found to contribute is to focus on being the best, most loving kind, most alive, authentic version of myself because I can do so much more to contribute when that comes first. It allows me to have endlessly more energy, empathy and compassion for everyone else around me. I heard something recently ‘if you haven’t dealt with your own s***, then everyone else around you is having to deal with it’. When we can find our own inner peace, our own freedom, we give that gift to others. And really that’s what the world needs too.
This week, is the one year anniversary of when I set up my coaching company. Going self employed and becoming a coach has been a huge transition for me, it's taken me to some deeply uncomfortable places within myself, to look at and overcome the parts of me that were holding me back, to push myself out my comfort zone in ways I didn't think possible. And it’s been the best learning curve, the most liberating experience and the most fulfilling work I’ve ever done. I get to work with amazing people to support and empower them to become better versions of themselves, to let go of their inner critics or the old stories and beliefs that are holding them back. My work fills me with energy, joy and purpose and I’ve been able to live a life that aligns with my values, that means I’ve also spent a lot of time with my family, I’ve had the freedom to travel slowly and not be in a rush or make myself busy, to learn and grow and work with great like-minded people. I feel so lucky to be able to do this work.
When you live in alignment, when you can be authentic, when you can let love lead over fear, when you put your wellbeing first, when you can be present and mindful, when you can share open-heartedly, when you work and live in a way that energises you - you will be unstoppable, your potential is limitless, the person you will become, the person you have always been, is there shining through, waiting for you to open the door so you can give your unique gifts to the world because what it most needs is the authentic version you.
The world is waiting for you to become the change. You are the change you have been waiting for! So go do your thing!
And if you want to find out why the authentic version of you is what the world most needs and how you can become that version of you, tune into the next podcast episode coming out next Thursday.
With love, Heather (and Albie) x
