Moral pain: balancing planetary with personal health

‘How do I balance looking after the planet, with looking after me?’

Someone shared this question with me the other day, and I can relate.
 
It’s the constant dilemma's you can face in, for example, your food choices, your modes of transport, or needing medication that negatively impacts the environment.

Not everyone gets this, but these issues can really hurt and cause tension. It’s a form of moral injury.

But here's the thing…. could any ‘balance’ you might find ever actually feel right? Is it ever going to feel peaceful and satisfying?

No, right?

These dilemmas usually just lead to mental torture, so I've learned not to try to find the perfect answer, but to find a better question.

For example: “With these specific concerns, taking my specific circumstances into consideration.... what is mine to do here?

How can I play a role (or how am I already playing a role) in addressing the wider issue, in a way that is doable for me?”

This is not the same as becoming an unconscious consumer - if you’re reading this, you probably don’t even have it in you. It’s making sure they don’t distract you from the bigger picture.

It is understanding the barriers to change in daily life, and slowly learning to be OK with the powerlessness that comes with that.

Then you lift yourself out of it, turning it into something that you know how to navigate, and can contribute to longer term change, even on a systemic level.

Paradoxically, acknowledging your limitations as a human being is more likely to lead to a sense of balance. It redirects your focus onto what’s the more important thing for you to do here.

What might that be for you?

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