Kenneth March

Well I'm still learning how to work this system but overall I'm happy to see all of the options. When I read through the activities I'm happy to see that there are things in each category that I already do, sometimes on a daily basis. I am fortunate to have a job working outside and that has given me a lot of drive to forge a path of mindfulness and sustainability. My coworkers are like family and it's the best kind to have. I set one of my challenges as Forgiveness because of them. They are so encouraging and almost never doubt whether I'm capable of anything. Sometimes I can be so pessimistic about things, and when I have that attitude towards our future it can put me into a state of depression. When I'm depressed I sleep more and accomplish less. When I recently read about the Iceberg Tool I realized that I have utilized this method already when addressing my depression. I came to understand that while Facebook kept me very well informed, the constant stream of events I was reading about was the tip of the iceberg. I never looked at how much screen time I averaged every day but I'm sure it was high and I can tell you from data usage information on my phone that most of it was dedicated to Facebook. 2020 has definitely felt like a doomsday year so the constant stream of bad news was driving my pessimism to all time highs and incidentally longer bouts of depression. I know a lot of people might be think about Social Dilemma on Netflix right about now and I tried to watch it myself. Honestly it wasn't telling me anything new though (plus the acting bits were terrible). I had identified most of my Iceberg by then but I hadn't been able understand how the currents were effecting my "Mental Models." I strongly believe that humans will always rise to the challenge but the constant stream of bad news was starting to make me doubt that. I haven't deleted social media altogether, I recently picked up Twitter but my understanding of it is so poor that it prevents me from getting engaged with it for to long. I also listen to NPR constantly at work so I get a good mix of good and bad news but seen through a thoughtful and compassionate lens. Maybe I am exercising my privilege by choosing to not hear all of the bad news that doesn't effect me. If that's so, then hopefully taking part in this challenge can help me find a new way to reconcile those feelings. It will be interesting to watch how the activities add up and what kind of impact they will have. It may not move the world to brighter days right away, but I'm optimistic about it impacting our lives in a positive way which is the first step to starting a chain reaction that reaches into every corner of the world.