Via the digital channels of Extinction Rebellion LA, Charlie came across an article I published arguing that activism wasn’t always the answer to eco-anxiety and eco-grief. Afterward, Charlie reached out to me by email. He described to me his history of eco-distress, as well as how he’d jumped into activism to help alleviate it. He also explained that he had recently had to take a step back from activism because of exactly what I’d described in my newsletter. Like many people who’ve looked to external activism as a “fix” for internal pain, he dove in too quickly and tried to cut straight across the process of transition to being a happy, resolved, and resilient activist. He had confused the therapeutic effects of community, which his therapist wanted him to explore, with the idea that action in the direction of a more positive future would take away his anguish.
Don’t…
