In a recent email, Adam Grant defined empathic distress as hurting for others while feeling unable to help.
The world events in the past week, and all the impacts and reactions that have resulted, have been overwhelming for many, some from a first- or second-degree experience and for others from a place of empathic distress.
I talked to a friend last week, who reminded me of this perspective during impossibly hard times: do what you can within your sphere of control.
While even this feels debatable (what can I actually control??), it feels manageable to think about every- day, likely small, words or actions and whether they move the needle toward goodness or away from it.
Taking that grocery cart that extra 15 feet to the stall instead of parking it on a curb moves things toward goodness. Smiling and saying hello to a passerby, instead of keeping one’s head down and plowing forward, moves things toward goodness. Stepping outside to sit in the sun to read instead of responding to a reactionary urge moves things toward goodness.
We can’t control what others do in this world (in fact, we never could, although we might have suffered from that fantasy) but we can control what WE do.
So, today, are we moving toward goodness or away from it?
