I think it’s safe to say a lot of sh*t has happened recently. I mean, bad shit always happens. But over the last year, we’ve been inundated with tragedy, heartbreak and injustice in every way, shape or form. It’s no wonder so many people are struggling with their mental health right now.
And as someone who’s had a lot of mental illness experience, I know how important it is to put your mental health first and step away from things that are triggering you. Having the news on 24 hours a day doesn’t benefit anyone. But as someone who has a strong core value of kindness, doing things (however small) to help is also important to me too.
Related reads about mental health:
I don’t know about anyone else but when faced with all this tragedy, it’s incredibly easy to feel utterly useless with no idea how to help, even in your own small way. When everything is so much bigger than one person and requires the work of an army to make change, how can one person make any difference at all?
I completely believe that we can all make a difference. And collectively all those small differences will add up to something monumental and real change will start to be seen. It might take years. It might take decades. It might take a millennia. But if you know you’ve done you bit to help, then you’ve left that mark on that important cause.
Today I want to share some helpful ways we can all support important causes. In the past year, things like the Black Lives Matter movement, the case of women’s safety in light of the Sarah Everard murder and the conversation of climate change and environmental impact have been in the limelight.
These are all incredibly important causes that can often leave us wondering if we’re actually helping in ANY way. Because how can just one person using a paper straw be doing any good? So hopefully these suggestions below will give you some ideas of how you can contribute towards that change!
9 helpful ways to support important causes:
Attend a protest
If you’re able, if it’s safe and if you feel comfortable to do so.
Protests can be pretty daunting things and a scary concept to a lot of people, with the crowds and the potential for something to happen. But protests are also incredibly powerful things and taking your place in a protest is an incredible way to support important causes.
Obviously only you know whether attending a protest is right or safe for you to do but definitely worth considering.
Sign petitions
A more doable option for most people is signing petitions. It’s quick, easy and helps to build up support for an important cause that you care about. Change.org is a popular site to start and browse for petitions.
Retweet resources, petitions etc.
And sharing petitions and resources is a great way to spread the word too. I do this a lot and sometimes I’ll avoid promoting any blog content or publishing new blog posts if something is going on and instead use Twitter to just share and promote important resources, pieces of information and petitions instead.
But make sure you’re RT’ing correct information
And following on from the above, making sure you’re sharing correct information and not fake news is super important because the last thing you want to do is share something that isn’t right.
Donate to charities
If you’re able to, this is a great way to support those important causes. Especially after COVID when so many charities struggled with funding, every penny helps and counts. I wrote this post on 6 charities to consider supporting in 2021 about charities I donate to regularly who are so worthy of my money.
Perhaps even create your own post around the charities you think need the support!
Volunteer your time
Obviously this hasn’t been an option for most people and most places over the last year or so due to COVID. But now it might be a viable option, if you have the time and you’re able to, volunteering could be a great way to do your bit to help a cause that needs it.
Check up on anyone you know who’s affected
If there’s something going on that you know someone might be affected by or triggered by, checking up on them in a more closer to home way to support those important causes.
Because behind those causes, are real life people who have experienced these things.
Share your own story
Only if you feel comfortable and safe doing so. But sharing your own story could seriously help someone else. This one is obviously hugely personal and you should never share anything you don’t feel safe sharing.
Write a blog post or Instagram content with important links
Sharing resources is super important and if you have a platform with followers who read what you write and listen to what you say, then you should use that platform.
Opening up your platform to a cause you’re passionate about can be a great way to get links, resources and petitions in front of a WHOLE lot of new people who might not have come across them before.
But don’t create thing content just for the views.
