A Useful Belief to Beat Back Powerlessness
It's worth asking what beliefs about the world--and ourselves--we draw from events like the most recent tragedy in Hawaii
I was standing in line at my favorite bakery on Friday morning. Sierra Bakehouse is the best bakery in town and one of those places where you feel an instant sense of community. Weighing the choices of sweet and savory, I suppose, puts everyone in a good mood. Conversations start. Kids pet dogs. Dogs lick kids. You get the picture.
It was a morning when (though we didn’t speak about it) I imagine many of us were still processing what had just happened in Hawaii.
I’m still struggling to process it now.
Living in California, I’ve been on a years-long journey of trying to reckon with our new reality of extreme wildfires. A few years ago, two of the biggest ones in our state’s history occurred just north and south of where I live in Lake Tahoe.
It was terrifying, even though the only direct physical impact on me was the air quality. After walking my dog around the block, I smelled like I’d spent a night in a smokey Las Vegas casino.
One way I managed my fear at the time was to paint my living room. That sounds irrational, I know. But I found it was better to act as if all would be well than get stuck in fear of the alternative.
This summer has been idyllic so far. And every day that is the kind of summer day I remember experiencing as a kid is a day I find myself grateful for.
Meanwhile, New York City and Chicago have experienced unprecedented smoke from the fires in Canada. Austin and Phoenix have had sweltering heat. And Hawaii has been dealt this terrible, tragic, shocking disaster. All this, and much more, has been fueled by climate change (among other witting and unwitting assaults on nature.)
Given that these extreme events are happening so much more often these days, it seems worth asking what we take from them. Is it fear about what might happen next? Or, a sense of relief that it didn’t happen to us? Is it despair that a terrible genie has been let out of the bottle that we are hard-pressed to control now? Or perhaps a powerful desire to tune out?
These are more than natural responses, and I’ve felt all of them.
But what I found myself thinking about in the bubble of community on the bakery line recently is what happens next? I don’t mean what climate event. I mean, what happens next in us?
After feeling what we feel, can we pause to observe the beliefs we might be tempted to walk away with? For simplicity's sake, I might suggest these beliefs fall into two buckets: believing we can do something to make a difference or believing we are powerless to do anything.
One of these beliefs is helpful. The other is not. But as Chris Helder writes in the book Useful Beliefs, having a useful belief is not the same as positive thinking. While positive thinking does not necessarily lead us to action, useful beliefs are motivating.
The point is there is no point in stumbling into hopelessness.
A better belief—at least one I am ascribing to—is simple: It is always better to do something instead of nothing, even if it doesn’t solve everything.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and wish you a good week.