Everything is an everyday experience. Movements simply have the momentum of the masses behind a unified experience.
Take M.A.D.D. (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) for example — founded on September 5, 1980 by Candace Lightner after her 13-year-old daughter, Cari, was killed by a drunk driver. One person, one experience, now a nationwide movement with partners such as the AMA, NFL, and Google. Candace, along with other mothers, were tired of seeing their children die at the hands of drunk drivers and decided to do something about it.
You can do this too. What is your everyday experience that needs to change? Are your children’s class sizes too big? Does your neighborhood need street lights? Are you finding too many stray animals because there is no local shelter? Does the regulation of women’s bodies just piss you off to no end?
These are all problems that can be solved by one person who dares to step up. I just wrote about this 1/25/19 in case you missed it!
Four ways to start your movement:
Collect your people: Build your village and bring the people around you that support you the most. Then rant, go ahead, tear it UP!
Pluck the thread: Look at all those thought bubbles that your rant produced. What is the most common thread? What is the common theme that has you feeling the most passionate?
Breathe: Come on now, do it with me. ONE BIG SOLID BREATH in through your nose and out through your mouth. We don’t BREATHE before we speak and that keeps us in a space where we are uncentered and unable to see other points of view. That keeps us blind to possibility.
Go do the thing: Remember the thread? That is the glue that puts your words together. Get on the soapbox and talk about the thread. The passion. The thing that lights you up and totally does it for you. GO DO THAT THING! Call your elected official, write the blog, collect the clothes for the homeless. DO THE THING! Don’t commit to hours if you only have minutes. One thing is better than nothing!
Got a few people on board? Excellent. Now lets light the fire of change and fan those flames. Gather your people from task #1 and attend a workshop or join Fanning the Flames online!
It’s Friday, go get em! xoxo, Dr. Melissa Bird