Make Your Voice Heard

Hello! it's Eve here. When we think about affecting change, it can feel overwhelming. Where do you start? And will it even make a difference? It can often feel like there are so many things going wrong in the world that on an individual level, what's the point as collective change is needed. I feel it too, but I wanted to share the story of the starfish with you. I found it to be really empowering and inspiring. So this story has seen many adaptations, but its origins come from "The Star Thrower" by Loren Eiseley. The story goes, a man was walking along a beach and he could see in the distance that a young girl was throwing starfish one by one back into the water. Hundreds of starfish had been washed up on the beach during a storm. The man approached her and said, "Why are you doing this? There is no way that you can save all these starfish. It won't make a difference." The little girl then bent down, picked up another starfish, and held it as far as she could into the ocean. She looked up at the man and said, "Well, it made a difference to that one." The man looked at the girl inspired by what she was doing, and joined in throwing the starfish back into the sea. Soon, many others joined and all the starfish was saved. I really love this story. It's such a good reminder that it's okay to start small. It's important that you ground yourself in your values and what's important to you. And if you feel overwhelmed and unsure about what you can do, perhaps focus on doing something small. It could even be doing something kind for someone you care about to start with. You could take note of community events. You could even volunteer some of your time. The more small steps we take together, the greater that impact will be felt at a larger scale. And it also feels really good when we contribute to our society and when we show up together to make the world a better place. So small acts really can make a big difference....