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In this episode I take you into Miami Dade Animal Services and the moment that nearly broke me. I talk about holding joy while staring at real cruelty, the guilt that comes with privilege, and a simple idea called moral ambition that pulled me back. You will hear why a tiny coalition can spark big change and why ending loneliness through community might be the most powerful prevention. Come with me and choose the one move that matters.
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- Read the full transcript: https://abundant-at-the-top.simplecast.com/episodes/the-power-of-one
Welcome to the abundant at the top podcast
I'm Brittany Fox your host
I've been thinking about this a lot this week
and it's this idea of
how do we see the darkest side of humanity
and still live in a place of joy
how do we live a privileged life
and not get bought down by guilt
by guilt of the people who don't have as much
by the guilt that we're not doing enough
that we're not contributing enough to society
and to help with these
really big issues that we see in the world
one thing that I've really been contemplating is
how do we make systemic change
changes and there's so many issues in the world
and where do you even begin
when you haven't been in that space
I know for me
I've always had a heart to want to help people
to make an impact to make a difference
but sometimes I get paralyzed by my own
overwhelmingness if you will
of the problems of what I'm seeing
and I think how can I make a difference
what is this one little thing that I do
going to make an impact
but recently I started to volunteer at the dog shelter
as I mentioned the Miami Dade Animal Services
there's over 600 animals in the shelter
it should really only hold about 300
and I've really seen some dark things of human cruelty
of what they're able to do
and how they're able to numb themselves
to be able to do something to an animal
like what I've seen at the shelter
and some days I go there and I leave really sad
for example I went there yesterday and I walk between
say five and seven dogs every time I go there
cause you take
take them out for 15 minutes and then you put them back
and by the time you do that
it's about two hours
and I have about a two hour commitment that I give
and it's also it it really drains your energy
because you go to this environment
it's very stressful you have to be very present
because it's a high stress environment
you gotta keep the dog safe
and you also wanna give this dog your attention
when you're with it because
this is the only joy it might experience that day
so it does take a lot of energy as well
it was funny before that I got to the shelter
and I was sending an audio text to my best friends
and I was saying how it just starts with one
one action one decision to show up one dog
and then I left I'm like oh
it's not enough it's not enough
because we had you get assigned the most urgent rooms
and I went to one of the rooms
and we had checked almost all the dogs in that room
and I'm like yes
like we made a big impact
then I go to the other room
and it's already late not many volunteers are left
and there's a whole room of over 30 dogs
that aren't gonna get their walk today
I just left really defeated
thinking it's not enough what I'm doing isn't enough
what we do as a society isn't enough
but also I know that this guilt and shame
isn't going to move forward
so what is the answer
I don't know
this is what I'm here to discuss with you today
and have have you think about too
is how can we make an impact
how can we start change
I do know for sure it does start with one
it starts with one choice
it starts with one conversation
it starts with showing up in one room
starts with
connecting with one person who's hurting that day
to make a difference it starts by one person showing up
and that person could be you
that person could be me
and while we see these dark sides of humanity
how do we still not get buckled down
I recently listened to this podcast uh
I forgot the guy's name but he talked about
and he started this movement called ambitious morality
or moral moral ambition
and it really got me thinking
because I am very much a person who believes in America
and all that it has to offer
and we are very much a capitalist society
which I've I love our ability to make money here
I love the ability to have the American dream
but I'm starting to really see the dark side
of some of this capitalism
of when it impacts people
the planet
and animals and there's no regulation around that
we're seeing the impact today
and I'm starting to feel that
we need to be able to have
sort of some sort of regulations before this gets
to get this better before it gets even worse
but sometimes it has to get worse before it gets better
but I think about
and what I started to do was some research
and I'm at the very beginning of this
so work through this with me
of what caused big changes
think about Martin Luther King
think about Nelson Mandela
think about the British abolitionism
what actually started those changes
and when you look at all of it
it comes back to what I said
it starts with one
but what was really interesting
was that it starts with a small group
a small coalition of people
who really care about a cause or a purpose
or something that they want to change
and I think about my community and my friendships
and the level of impact that my friends
and influence that they have
and thinking about
if we just came together around a specific cause
to make an impact that we could see massive change
that I already have the circle
I already have the ability
and then you have this small coalition
and then it's about organizing it
to start to make the difference
to start advocating
something that I found really interesting
when doing some research about change
is oftentimes
the person who is advocating for the change
they don't ever see the full impact of what they did
that they don't see that all that they advocated for
all the pushback that they got
all the knows
still worked for them
still made the change that they wanted
but they just didn't give up
that they were so motivated by the change
that they just didn't stop
they kept going
and I thought that was a really interesting thing
and when I think about my community she created
one of the things that really is clear to me
about what it is is to help the loneliness epidemic
especially at the top we all hear oh
it's lonely at the top
I don't believe that
that's why this podcast is called abundant at the top
there's a lot of us on this mission
on this road that we've had success
but we're living an intentional life
we're living a conscious life
we're thinking about impact
we're thinking about what I'm talking about today is
how can we make a difference
and I believe being in community
is one of the greatest things that we could do
of our time to be able to end the loneliness epidemic
and what is ending the loneliness epidemic
look for me I love the idea of prevention
while we have issues that we need to step in and help
such as hunger and abuse
and these animals in the shelter and
and humans too
there is aside before that
how could we prevent this
and it's not often as rewarding
because we don't see what could have been
we don't feel that deep impact
that deep emotional pain of what happened
but being in community is actually a prevention
it's a prevention of the loneliness epidemic
and what does that prevent
I mean when people aren't in community
when they're alone when they're struggling
that's when people start abusing drugs
alcohol
when they make really poor choices
in their relationships and even become suicidal
and being a community
is the prevention for so many of these things
so what I would encourage you today
is to just think about the one
think about the one action you can take today
think about the one room you can show up in
think about the one decision you can make
to show up and be in community today
that's it for this episode of abundance at the top
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