How AUTISM Helped Me DEFY the Odds! (PERSONAL)

Featured ~ Donald "Nugget" Arteaga ~ Leave a comment

😲 I WAS DIAGNOSED WITH AUTISM!!! 😲

I use to consider myself a very introverted person, very shy, and very set in my own closed routines. I was more of a thinker than a doer and more a dreamer than a leader. Can you relate to that? If not, can you think of someone in your life who was like that? 🤔

Being diagnosed with Autism in 7th grade was probably the starting point for me, the point where I confirmed these ideas to myself about who I was: something was ‘wrong’ in my brain. 🧠 “I have Autism. It explains why I feel the way I feel. It’s just something that’s a part of me; I can’t change it.” 🤷‍♂️

But even at the time I remember feeling like I didn’t want to be labeled like this. I saw the label before me with all its negativity, a label I needed to object and rebel from. 👊 I saw the stigmas of this label becoming my reality, and once I started seeing it reflected in other people’s behaviors towards me it frightened me to the core! 😨

I have vivid memories from school where I refused to accept new accommodations because of the new label. I was now being offered additional time on tests, opportunities to leave class to ‘cool down’, and every single time I refused. I was being treated differently. I hadn’t changed, but with my new label I had changed in the eyes of everyone else. 😟 Has someone ever said something about you that you knew wasn’t true? Did you ever feel like you just wanted to jump on the defense and say: “That is absolutely NOT TRUE!” 🤬

With my new label I was constantly reminded about my new-given identity: what I couldn’t do, what my limitations were, and what struggles I’d have the rest of my life. 🔮 Very little was I ever reminded about all my current strengths or what I could do. It was mostly the echoes from a set of diagnostic criteria. 📖

In psychology, the term is referred to as a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy. In sociology, it’s referred to as the Labeling Theory. To put it simply: If a person holds a belief in their mind about someone else’s future expectations, the person will unconsciously help in influencing the other person into fulfilling those expectations. 🤔

So for example, if a parent holds a child to very low expectations the odds are very likely the child won’t ever go past the ones the parent already set for them. They will only achieve the most minimal, the expectations set by the parent. 😲

SO FOR A LONG TIME I USE TO LET OTHERS DICTATE HOW I WAS GOING TO LIVE MY LIFE…😔

But then at one point I finally decided I was going on my own path. These past few years I’ve learned that everything starts with Me: I must take control of my life, how I choose to see it, and how I’m going to live it. 👍

📌 Dale Carnegie explained it through his principles to Win Friends and Influence People.

📌 Stephen Covey said it with his Habit of Being Proactive.

📌 The Stoics taught it through their principles of self-control.

📌 The Existentialists shared it through the creation of meanings.

📌 Individuals like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. excelled it through their example.

It’s the power of helping OURSELVES FIRST before we start trying to help the rest of the world. It’s about taking CONTROL over our emotions rather than letting them and our environment control us. It’s about living our lives for a PURPOSE greater than just ourselves. It’s about a “dream”, a vision of a greater future for all of humanity. Most importantly, it’s about YOU DEFINING YOUR LIFE. 🌎

What I’ve come to realize again and again is that my past does not have to equal the future. I’ve realized I am more capable than what any label or diagnosis will dictate. 🙌

Have you ever taken a personality test and it gave you a result you wholeheartedly believed in? “Congrats, you’re an INFJ!” The problem with these tests is they can tell you who you are NOW. But they don’t tell you who you’ll necessarily be in the FUTURE. We can change as well as mentally evolve. It’s a part of who I may be now, but it’s not the final destination! 🛣️

I’ve realized that I ultimately will define Me, not someone else, not a test, and not a set of diagnostic criteria. Otherwise I keep a fixed identity for the rest of my life…nah! 😉

So this year I’ve been on a mission to Transcend Labels. I am showing the world what’s possible, to show others how to look beneath the surface, past the labels, past the stereotypes, and to see each other for who we all are. 👥

I truly believe when we do this we’ll start seeing the humanity within each other, see each other as human beings, and see that we are all more alike than we like to believe. With that not only comes greater understanding for our neighbors but most importantly an unconditional love, because the realization comes: “That person is also Me.” ❤️

I see lasting change in the world happening through the individual from the inside-out, not the outside-in. I believe that the better we can be for ourselves, the better we can be for others. 🌎

Gandhi said: “Be the change you wish to see in the world”. Everyone has an opinion, but there are fewer people out there who ever set the example. Will we be the next examples?! 👌

I WAS DIAGNOSED WITH AUTISM; AN EXPLANATION, BUT NOT THE DESTINATION! 💪

I hope this resonates with many of you. I would appreciate it if you could share this post with others, whoever you believe will also benefit from these words. If there are any additional areas I can add value to your life as well as in the blogging community, please let me know! 🙂

My areas of expertise include:

👍 Detail-oriented, Thoroughness

👍 Quality-over-quantity Focused

👍 Analytical, Systemic Thinking

👍 Emotional intelligence (plus 10 years in Customer Service)

👍 Social media, Building Engagement

With lots of gratitude,

Donald “Ace” Arteaga ❤️

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Why Shoveling Is FUN!

February 23, 2021 ~ Donald "Nugget" Arteaga ~ Leave a comment

😄 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐒 𝐅𝐔𝐍!!! 😄

𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐟𝐮𝐥…𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫. ❤️

Last Sunday we had a blizzard in Chicago. As the inches piled up and the storm raged on, I decided to bundle myself up, step outside, and shovel the driveway. 🌨️

But in doing so I could hear that little voice in my head which was saying:

🗣 “𝘋𝘖𝘕𝘈𝘓𝘋, 𝘛𝘏𝘐𝘚 𝘐𝘚 𝘗𝘖𝘐𝘕𝘛𝘓𝘌𝘚𝘚!” 🗣

To be fair, this voice had a point! Why? Because the townhouse association I live under already provides snow plowers to do everyone’s driveways! 😅

In other words, I had no reason to step outside my warm, cozy home and out into the freezing cold to perform a job which was already going to be done for me! 🤣

And yet…I did have a reason! 😲

Have you ever done something you felt really proud of, yet in the eyes of others it could easily be seen as “𝘗𝘖𝘐𝘕𝘛𝘓𝘌𝘚𝘚”?

📌 You run a marathon…yet you NEVER need to run 26 miles in your life!

📌 You play a sport…yet you NEVER need to place yourself in harm’s way for bodily injuries!

📌 You learn a new skill…yet you NEVER need to learn one because you can always hire someone with the same skill!

Are we just masochists?! Do we just enjoy experiencing discomfort for the sake of it?! 😅

Not quite! 🛑

I doubt most people would say they do it primarily for the pain. I know I don’t! 🙋‍♂️

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭! 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭!

When I stepped outside last Sunday, I knew what I was getting myself into!

🥶 I KNEW the snow would blanket my face!

🥶 I KNEW the cold air would leak under my gloves!

🥶 I KNEW I would be sweating from shoveling!

🥶 I KNEW my muscles would be aching!

And yet…I still enjoyed it!

𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧! 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲! ✊

𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝, 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐟𝐮𝐥, 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭-𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠-𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞𝐝! 🙌

In other words:

📍 You don’t run a marathon just to exhaust your muscles. You also do it to see what your body is capable of doing.

📍 You don’t play a sport just to risk bodily injuries. You also do it to see how you compete against other players.

📍 You don’t learn a skill just to learn it. You also do it to see what else your brain doesn’t know about the world.

𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐍!

As I was shoveling, I got so much into the flow of doing it I even decided to shovel the townhouse’s sidewalk too!

Again, there were plows for that too, but I didn’t care! 😁

There was an ancient Greek proverb echoing in my mind: “𝘈 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯.” 🙌

And once everything was done, I got to feel the fruits of my labor! ❤️

𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐃! 💪

𝐀𝐂𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐃! 😎

𝐀 𝐉𝐎𝐁 𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐃𝐎𝐍𝐄! 💯

“𝐌𝐘 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐃!” 🗡️

“𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐎𝐍 𝐇𝐀𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐄𝐃!” 🐉

If I can make a task as “mundane” as shoveling a meaningful experience, I have to ask: what are YOU capable of making meaningful in your life? ❤️

What dragons can you create to slay? What missions can you accept to accomplish? What hero’s journey can you undertake in your own backyard? ⚔️

Because when you don’t have any, I encourage you to create some! The Stoic philosopher Epictetus had a point ⬇️:

“𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘯𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘩𝘺𝘥𝘳𝘢, 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨 𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘳 – 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘧? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴? 🤔

𝘖𝘣𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱. 𝘚𝘰 𝘣𝘺 𝘴𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘶𝘹𝘶𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘺 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘴.” 😔

That’s why I shoveled! It had nothing to do with the plowers! It has everything to do with creating a meaningful life. 🙌

Make life fun, even when there’s no reason to! Just don’t forget that making it fun is YOUR responsibility! 😄

Your MOST Important Valentine!

February 14, 2021February 14, 2021 ~ Donald "Nugget" Arteaga ~ Leave a comment

❤️ 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐄!!! ❤️

What does today’s holiday mean to you?

💓 A day to share love with the people in your life?

💘 A day to spend time with that “special someone”?

💔 A day to remind you of the fact you’re still single?

𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 #𝟑, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮!

For all my single friends out there, me being single myself: no need to fret! 😁

What if I told you, me at age 29, I’ve NEVER been in a relationship?! 😱

“𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐏𝐇𝐄𝐌𝐘!!!”❌

Don’t get me wrong, I used to DESPERATELY want one myself! Back in high school, I was on ALL the dating sites and apps: Plenty of Fish, OkCupid, Tinder, etc. I had them ALL covered! 😅

🗣️ “𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘴𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘥, 𝘋𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘥?!” 🗣️

At the time I didn’t really know, nor did it ever cross my mind to really ask myself why. All I knew was I simply wanted to be in one! 🤷‍♂️

I wanted to find that “special someone” that would make me happier. 🙁

🌟 BUT THEREIN WAS THE PROBLEM! 🌟

𝐈 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐈 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐫.

❤️ 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐄!!! ❤️

Often we’re taught, especially through romantic stories, that if we’re in a relationship with that “special someone” the heavens will somehow magically open and all will live happily ever after. 😊

It’s quite a romantic way of looking at relationships…but as a teenager I didn’t understand that that was NOT reflective of reality! 😅

And I get why we keep believing this idea: We tend to only see the POSITIVE moments of a couple’s relationship, on display in our social lives and for all to see on social media. 🖼️

We typically don’t hear about the negative or challenging moments that happen in relationships. Who wants to hear that negativity, right?! 👍

𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲. 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠-𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩. ❤️

But I didn’t know all this as a teenager! So, as a naive teenager, WHY WOULDN’T I want to be in a relationship? They seemed to be nothing but smooth sailing! They looked like mindless fun! 😍

But it was around 4 years ago that I finally had this big change in perspective around relationships. I made the unanimous decision to UNINSTALL and DELETE ALL the dating apps I was on! 😲

🗣️ “𝐖𝐚𝐢𝐭, 𝐰𝐡𝐲?!” 🗣️

Of all the countless hours I had spent on those apps, I had finally become drained of my willingness to keep searching for that “special someone”. 😓

If I could take the ratio of time I spent browsing those apps to the amount of time I actually spent talking with someone, it would be like 500 to 1! 👎

❤️ 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐄!!! ❤️

Ultimately, my excessive searching was a time-waster! And the worst part of all: I kept making myself feel worse each time I logged off the apps when I had no luck. Each time I blamed MYSELF for it! 😥

⚠️ 𝐈 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟: “𝐍𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞! 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞!” ⚠️

…And then holidays like Valentine’s Day came around every year. They would only FURTHER reinforce a cycle of self-pity that I wasn’t in a relationship. And it SUCKED! 😫

So, you may be asking: what was the “final straw” for me to make such a drastic change?

❤️ 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐄!!! ❤️

Since my teenage years, I’ve come to greater realizations about why I wanted to be in a relationship in the first place:

⚠️ I thought being in a relationship was the answer to making me happy. But it wasn’t.

⚠️ I thought by being in a relationship, I could seek recognition and validation from others. But I wouldn’t.

⚠️ I thought that if I was in a relationship, it would fill the void of loneliness I felt inside myself. But it wouldn’t.

As awful as it sounds, 𝐈 𝐬𝐚𝐰 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐭𝐨𝐲 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫.🧸

But people aren’t objects! And owning more objects won’t make you fulfilled in the long-term! 💯

🚨 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅𝐈𝐒𝐇 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒. 𝐌𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 “𝐖𝐄” 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 “𝐌𝐄”. 🚨

How many of us get into a relationship primarily for selfish reasons? I challenge you to seriously think about it! 💯

So, in sharing my story with you all, I hope you see a part of yourself in this. Sometimes what we’re actually looking for is not that “special someone” but actually something much closer to home. 🏠

❤️ 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐄…𝐈𝐒 𝐘𝐎𝐔!!! ❤️

🌟 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭. 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞. 🌟

Again, for all my single friends out there: no need to fret!

❤️ Relationships are not all sunshine and rainbows. We often don’t see what goes on behind-the-scenes, the ongoing commitment required from both people, or the negative moments which happen in them.

❤️ Inner happiness and fulfillment has to come from YOU first. Fill your cup up first so then you can easily share it with a future lover. If you can’t love yourself first, you can’t expect it to come from someone else, because you’re going to be waiting forever.

❤️ Self-love is one of the greatest gifts you can give. The only person you’re with 100% of your life…is Yourself! So learn to be comfortable in your own company.

❤️ Today is an opportunity for you to change your perspective on how you see relationships. They are not a place you go to GET but a place you go to GIVE, and not being in one DOESN’T determine your self-worth.

Make today a day for you to give love in whatever way you know best! For me, writing this post to share with all of you is one of them! 😁

Please SHARE this post with anyone who needs to hear this today. Truly, you’re not alone! ❤️

Why Our HUMANITY Matters!

February 10, 2021February 22, 2021 ~ Donald "Nugget" Arteaga ~ Leave a comment

❤️ 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐕𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄! ❤️

I am someone who is gay…I rarely talk about it. 🤷‍♂‍

I am someone who is Hispanic…I rarely talk about it. 🤷‍♂‍

I am someone who is Liberal…I rarely talk about it. 🤷‍♂‍

I am someone who is Atheist…I (especially) rarely talk about it. 🤷‍♂‍

Why do I rarely talk about these things? 🤔

Well…let’s take a step back. 👣

Say you were meeting me for the very first time, and the only information you were given about who I am were these labels: 📜

Male. Gay. Hispanic. Liberal. Atheist.

What kind of person comes to your mind that fits into each of these categories? 🤔

What comes to your mind when you think of a “Gay Male”? Flamboyant? Feminine? Limp wrists?

What comes to your mind when you think of an “Atheist?” Snobbish? Science-obsessed? Blasphemous?

Now…take these labels and apply them back to me. And compare these labels to how you 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 know me as a person. 🙋‍♂️

Let me ask: do these labels easily fit into your general perception of me? 😅

Of Donald Arteaga? 🤷‍♂️

If your answer is “no”…THAT is the reason why!

🙌 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐈 𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐈 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭, 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐬. 🙌

I’d rather we all be judged, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, based upon the content of our character. 👤

👍 I don’t intend for you to judge me by virtue of my sexual preference.

👍 I don’t intend for you to judge me by virtue of my race.

👍 I don’t intend for you to judge me by virtue of my political views.

👍 I don’t intend for you to judge me by virtue of my religious affiliation.

THIS is why I generally don’t provide this information to people upfront. I want you to get to know ME first, minus the preconceptions. 🙂

👀 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐈 𝐚𝐦, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐬. 👀

The problem is these labels are only mere facets of who I am as a human being, just as I believe this to be the case for any other human being. 💎

I’ve held this ideal ever since I started my mission to Transcend Labels in 2018. ⏳

The ideal has always been for me to show through my example that people don’t have to be entrenched in their labels. 💯

The ideal has always been for me to show that my diagnosis of Autism is just a temporary explanation and not a final destination. 💯

The ideal has always been for me to show how limiting labels are as frameworks for understanding ourselves and other people. 💯

Consider the facts:

🙌 No one on this planet is 100% exactly the same.

🙌 No one thinks 100% exactly the same way.

🙌 No one has lived 100% exactly the same life as another person.

𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐮𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠.

𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧’𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐨 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱, 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬.

𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧’𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐧𝐞’𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫.

As Ayishat Akanbi put it: “𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒙𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒚.” The obsession with one’s labels become a self-fulfilling prophecy which leaves no room for change, let alone the possibility for personal growth. 🙌

For me, my mission to Transcend Labels is a life-affirming philosophy that says we are more than our pasts, more than our circumstances, and that we are capable of becoming more than the people we were yesterday. ✊

Perhaps as you read this, this sounds like common sense to you! 😅

But…things seemed to have changed. 🧐

Not with my mission; it remains the same. But I’m talking about within our society. 👥

More and more I continue reading about a growing ideology that:

😱 Encourages people to see each other ONLY for their labels, not for their individuality.

😱 Encourages people to see each other ONLY for their group identities, not for their common humanity.

😱 Encourages people to see each other ONLY through a zero-sum lens of either being Oppressors or being Oppressed.

😱 Encourages people to indulge in cognitive biases like mindreading, overgeneralizing, and black-and-white thinking.

This smorgasbord of an ideology has come to be more popularly known as: “being woke”.

(𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘙𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘞𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 “𝘊𝘺𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴: 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘈𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘚𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘔𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘈𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘙𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘺” 𝘣𝘺 𝘑𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘓𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘢𝘺 & 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘯 𝘗𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦.)

Simply put…the very ideals I’ve stood for the past few years are in direct opposition to this ideology. 🤷‍♂‍

So perhaps you can understand why a part of me is fascinated at how this ideology has reached such a wide audience, especially among the political Left, with little Critical (pun intended) examination. 😅

Perhaps you can understand my fascination reading about this ideology that argues the very ideals I stand for, the message I’ve promoted for years, can now be entirely summarized under labels like “white supremacy”, “white privilege”, “patriarchy”, “racist”, “microaggression”, and “hateful”. 🤨

❤️ But I get it. ❤️

I understand in these current times A LOT of us are stressed out and worried. I understand it’s hard for anyone to think clearly, let alone rationally, when our minds are shrouded in weeds. 😖

𝐈 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬.

If I were to combine every negative event which has happened the past year, I can’t blame someone for not feeling comfortable with all this Uncertainty. 😨

As I saw 1 tweet put it: “𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐠𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐲𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐲.” ❤️

So yes, I definitely understand that lots of people at this time will be desperate to find something which helps them get back to Certainty, back to some sense of clarity and normalcy, back to some sense of renewed purpose and meaning…even if that means embracing an over-simplistic, fringe ideology like this one. 🙌

And THIS is one of the main reasons why I’ve not spoken up about this topic personally. 𝐈’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝’𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞’𝐬 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞. 😭

At the moment, the child needs something, anything to stay calm and feel safe. 🛡

Don’t get me wrong, there are 100% real problems in our society that still need to be solved. I’m not here to pretend like everything is all fine and dandy. It’s not.

But we’re not going to solve them when we’re making the incorrect diagnoses, which in turn provide the wrong solutions. 👎

𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫-𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 👎

But that part of the discussion will be saved for another post…

My point is: THIS is not the way forward. ❌

🤬 “𝑾𝑬𝑳𝑳 𝑴𝑹. 𝑯𝑰𝑮𝑯-𝑨𝑵𝑫-𝑴𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻𝒀 𝑫𝑶𝑵𝑨𝑳𝑫, 𝑮𝑶𝑻 𝑨𝑵𝒀 𝑩𝑬𝑻𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑰𝑫𝑬𝑨𝑺?!” 🤬

I believe I do! And it goes right back to what I was talking about earlier. 😊

🙌 We move forward by focusing on our common humanity.

🙌 We move forward by focusing on what we have in common.

🙌 We move forward by NOT assuming malicious intent of those who disagree with us.

🙌 We move forward by focusing on understanding and less on labeling.

𝐖𝐞 𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲.

𝐖𝐞 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐢𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲.

𝐖𝐞 𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐋𝐄𝐃𝐆𝐄 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞…𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐒𝐄 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲.

For every time we do this, we’ll remind our survival brain who’s in charge of how we connect with others. 🧠

We’ll remind our survival brain how naïve the caricatures we create in our minds about mass groups of people are. 🧠

𝐈𝐟 𝐰𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲, 𝐥𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬. 𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞.

Because what’s the alternative?

👎 A society which is OBSESSED with focusing on what makes us separate from each other.

👎 A society which DISCRIMINATES people based primarily upon their labels.

👎 A society which attempts to solve the problem of prejudice…with EVEN MORE PREJUDICE.

That doesn’t sound like a desirable outcome, does it? Sounds a bit backwards, right? It’s honestly quite IL-liberal! 😅

But…thankfully we don’t have to go down that route! We don’t have to become “woke”! 💯

I challenge you to come with me and take the road less traveled. It’s important to remember that just because something is popular in the moment doesn’t automatically mean it’s right. 👍

I challenge you to come with me and use what might be considered a more “radical” approach these days to connecting with others:

𝐓𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭. 𝐓𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤. 𝐓𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞. 𝐓𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞. 𝐓𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬.

But if all this sounds too overwhelming, how about just this…?

𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈’𝐦 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠. 👥

𝐋𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. 🙂

𝐍𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬. ❤️

How Glasses POSSESS Us!

January 23, 2021 ~ Donald "Nugget" Arteaga ~ Leave a comment

📖 𝐖𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐖𝐄 𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐕𝐄𝐒 📖

I’d like you to take a moment and read the following 2 Stories. They both revolve around the topic of Capitalism ⬇️:

𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 #𝟏:

“𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤. 𝘍𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘴𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴. 🌽

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯, 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘮𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘵. 🏭

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳. 😈

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘣𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 20𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘺, 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥, 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴. 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯. 🙌

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵-𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭. 𝘚𝘰, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘳, 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘺 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳. 🔥

𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘶𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳-𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘶𝘴…” 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 💯

Does this Story resonate with you? 📖

If not…how about this one? ⬇️

𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 #𝟐:

“𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘵, 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘧, 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘷𝘦. 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘦𝘶𝘥𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦𝘥, 𝘴𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥. 😞

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯, 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 17𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘺, 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯. 🌞

𝘐𝘯 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘢𝘸, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴. ❤️

𝘗𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘴, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴. 💪

𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 20𝘵𝘩 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘺, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵: 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘮. 👎

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 💰

𝘠𝘦𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵-𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘮. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘥 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘦 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘳. 😡

𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘶𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥.” 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐋𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 💯

So…which Story is correct? #1 or #2? 📖

Depending on where you reside on the political spectrum, 1 of these Stories you’re far more likely to agree is accurate. ↔️

But here’s the catch: 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔. 📖

They are 2 different narratives, 2 different perspectives on the exact same thing: Capitalism. ↔️

But to back up a moment, what exactly are Stories?

🌟 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙗𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙚 𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙤𝙗𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮. 🌟

If this definition sounds too pretentious, think of Stories as like wearing pairs of glasses. 👓

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐬.

👓 The person wearing an Optimistic lens will focus on seeing the best of things.

👓 The person wearing a Pessimistic lens will focus on seeing the worst of things.

👓 The person wearing a Realistic lens will focus on seeing things just as they are.

👓 The person wearing a Cynical lens will focus on distrusting the things they see.

Do you know a person who, even in the worst of situations, can always find a silver lining? 🙋‍♂‍

Or how about a person that, even in the best of situations, can always find something to complain about? 🙋‍♀‍

𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬.

🗣️ “DONALD, ENOUGH WITH THE ANALOGIES! WHAT’S YOUR POINT?” 🗣️

My point is it’s CRUCIAL we become aware of what glasses we’re currently wearing. 😅

Why? 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞. 📖

With that said, briefly re-read those 2 Stories of Capitalism again at the beginning of this post. ⬆️

You can now take a guess as to the lens each author is wearing. 👓

To put it simply: 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐚𝐫𝐞. 𝐖𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐖𝐄 𝐚𝐫𝐞. 👤

𝐖𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞’𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 📖

🤬 “THAT’S RIDICULOUS, DONALD! YOU’RE SAYING I ‘CHOOSE’ A CYNICAL LENS?! JUST LOOK AT HOW MESSED UP THE WORLD IS!” 🤬

To clarify, I’m NOT saying you’re “choosing” any of the lenses you’re currently wearing, at least not consciously. 😅

Often, we’ve adapted to these lenses over time through our environment: from our family, from the books we’ve read, from the media we’ve consumed, and from the opinions of friends we’ve surrounded ourselves with. 🌎

As Jim Rohn said: “𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 5 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩.” 👥

Surround yourself with negative people, you’ll soon become one too. Surround yourself with hopeful people, you’ll soon have their hope rub off on you too. 👥

𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝟏 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲. 👓

After enough time, you’ll take this Story lens to be a Fact and not just a Story. 😲

But herein lies the problem: 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘀. ❌

𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞; 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬. ⚪

It’s the difference between saying a Fact about capitalism (“Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit”) versus saying a Story about capitalism (“Capitalism is exploitation”). ↔️

Capitalism is not intrinsically “exploitation” nor “liberation”; these are just Stories lenses we’ve placed around them. 👓

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙢 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙨𝙤 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙨 𝒂𝒔 𝙁𝙖𝙘𝙩, 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙤 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙬𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣’𝙩 𝙛𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚𝙨 𝙚𝙭𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜. 🤯

𝙒𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙣𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙬𝙚’𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙜𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙨. 😔

When we’re unable to take off our glasses, we have a much harder time separating the Facts from the Stories about the Facts. When we’re unable to take off our glasses, we have a much harder time being able to truly understand other people’s points of view. 🙌

In turn, our empathy becomes replaced more and more with egotistical self-righteousness and moral grandstanding. 🥇

So…how do we solve this problem? 🤔

𝐖𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠. 🔎

Here’s a list of just a few of the Stories currently circulating in our culture. 📖

I must warn you: some of the Stories I list here you may wholeheartedly embrace, and the fact I’m listing them here may make you feel like I’m trivializing or invalidating you or other peoples’ personal experiences. 👎

I can assure you that is not at all my intention here. So, please be aware of this just in case your emotional defenses jump up in protest. ❤️

📖 “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘭𝘵-𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺!”

📖 “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘓𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘴!”

📖 “𝘞𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯!”

📖 “𝘍𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯!”

📖 “𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘬-𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘵!”

📖 “𝘞𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘵!”

📖 “𝘞𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺!”

📖 “𝘉𝘪𝘨 𝘗𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦!”

📖 “𝘚𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘵!”

📖 “𝘉𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘎𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭!”

📖 “𝘚𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦!”

📖 “𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘎𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴!”

📖 “𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 1%!”

📖 “𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘺!”

📖 “𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘴!”

📖 “𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦, 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘦!”

See some Stories you recognize? 🙋‍♂️🙋

By sharing this list, I’m NOT here to say which Story lens has more validity to them. I’m also NOT here to say each Stories lens is equally accurate or equally useful. They’re not, and it’s why we need Facts. 👍

But that’s NOT what this post is about. 💯

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬, 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡, 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗠𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗩𝗘𝗟𝗬 𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱.

👀 If you wear a Story lens that all men are sexist, misogynist pigs, you’re going to have a very hard time seeing any man in a positive light.

👀 If you wear a Story lens that all police officers are racist, sadistic authority figures, you’ll assume every police altercation that includes people of different races to automatically be about racism.

👀 If you wear a Story lens that all protesters are rioting, anarchic looters, you’ll assume every property destroyed during a protest to automatically be the cause of protesters.

👀 If you wear a Story lens that all white people are racists, you’re going to see racism in every interaction with a white person, regardless if it’s there or not.

A perfect phrase to summarize this: “𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝.” 🔎

But…wouldn’t YOU rather decide what it is that you’re going to seek? Wouldn’t YOU rather decide how you’re going to see the world? Wouldn’t YOU rather decide what glasses you’re going to wear instead of having someone else force you to wear theirs? 💯

It’s time to take back control, don’t you think? 💪

🙌 𝐖𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠.

🙌 𝐖𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝.

🙌 𝐖𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬.

🗣️ “DONALD! WHY SHOULD I DO THIS WHEN NO ONE ELSE IS?!” 🗣️

Because you’re not doing this for others.

😊 𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

😊 𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐎𝐌 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

😊 𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐋 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬.

Because the alternative is to fall back asleep, to allow yourself to forget you’re wearing glasses, and to return to a place where you’ll continue experiencing needless suffering. 😢

After all, in this place your Stories are in control of you. 😔

So…staying awake sounds like a better option, doesn’t it? 😅

You got this! And before you know it, you’ll be looking back on the old Stories you use to carry, looking back on those 2 Stories of Capitalism, and you’ll truly understand when I say to you: “These are 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 Stories!” 🙌

📖 𝐖𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐖𝐄 𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐕𝐄𝐒 📖

(2 Stories of Capitalism credited to Jonathan Haidt)