Making a Difference

What is your goal in life? What is the mark you wish to leave behind on the world?

If you're like me, you often find yourself just drifting, not quite where you want to be but trying to make the most of it. Sometimes you may feel like you don't have a place or you're simply not doing enough. However, if you take a moment to really think about it, you'll find you are. You affect the lives of the people around you just by listening or offering understanding when they may feel like they can find it nowhere else. And you do have the power as a single individual to make as much difference as you wish to, one small thing at a time.

But maybe you still find yourself longing to do more. Perhaps you wish to take an environmental approach. Maybe you want to lift people up, inspire confidence. It could be that you want to make a difference in the lives of those who have very little. Whether it's eliminating plastic in your household, creating a program that allows individuals to see their beauty inside and out, or volunteering at a soup kitchen, there are always ways to help out in this world of ours, to make a mark.

So where can you start? Here are some easy steps to consider.

Pick a focus

What is something in the world you wish to see changed? Not sure? Think carefully about what you are most passionate about, what could make that which you love even better? How can you demonstrate your love for it and help it to become better, healthier, and more present in the thoughts of society? Last week I posted a Rambler's Rave about 4Ocean. This organization started with a passion for water. Two surfers were tired of seeing so much plastic in the ocean and they decided to clean it up. What started small, is now huge. Check out their Website and scroll down to see the latest count on just how much plastic their teams have removed from the ocean. Making a difference starts just like that, a dream, a concept, and idea, and the passion infused drive to make it a reality.

Research

Know what you want to do? Start with little steps. Pick a search browser and type it in. See what's already being done, figure out if those things can be applied to you. If they can, awesome! It's a start! If not, look up ways to make it apply, look up how other people have made it work, touch base with organizations who have the same focus. There are so many things already out there that work but simply aren't common knowledge and practice yet. You may have some tweaking to do, but at least you'll have a better idea of how to go about it!

Advocate

Share your passion with others. Show your support for other organizations who share your focus, inspire passion in others by acting as an example and providing information to those wishing to learn more. This can be as easy as posting a link or video to your social media and asking people to check it out. Knowledge is power, so sharing what you've learned with others makes us all stronger.

Act

Monkey see, monkey do. You can talk all you want but at the end of the day your actions will be what encourage or discourage people from joining your cause. Several years ago, I gave up disposable water bottles. I didn't push it on anyone else, I didn't attack others for their personal choices, but any time I would decline a water bottle and explain that I no longer used them, it invited questions and lead to conversation. People were curious about why I would decline something so convenient, and I would share with them the YouTube Video that inspired the change for me. They learned something new without feeling like it was being forced on them, and the next thing I knew, a lot of my friends were joining in.

Be open to new opportunities the universe may send

Sometimes, we know we want to make a difference, but don't know what it is we want to do, let alone how to go about it. Sometimes however, it's when we stop searching that we find what we were looking for. Keep your eyes open, and you may very well have an opportunity present itself to you through a friend or loved one. Opportunities present themselves all the time, we simply have to be willing to see them and to say yes.

If this post spoke to you, I invite you to comment below. I'd love to hear what you're doing to make the world a better place, or what ideas you might have!

Cheers!

The Bra Street Rambler!