“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not” – Dr. Seuss
This quote from Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax has always been one of my favorites. I even have “Unless” tattooed on my ankle! As I have gotten older, and been in more spaces in life, the meaning of this quote has grown and expanded, and I find that it applies to life again and again.
The first meaning that I found in this quote was finding your cause and putting yourself behind it 100%. I saw it modeled in activists like Greta Thunberg who care a whole awful lot about a cause and are working hard to make things better. People who make big things happen in this world, are people who care enough to do something about it. I wanted to be one of those people.
However, I had no idea what my cause was. I still don’t. Every week, I learn something new and become enthralled by it, and want to hit the ground running to solve all the problems. But the fact is that I can’t solve everything. There are just not enough days in a life to be an expert in every field that interests me. That is one of the main reasons I started this blog: to continue to care about all the things that I might not have time to explore otherwise.
Although I am still struggling to accept the fact that I can’t fix everything, I see the quote applying in smaller, more mundane ways. For example, when there is a problem at work, I want to get in there and fix it. I care a whole awful lot about making things better, even if it is something as small as tightening a screw so a part of the espresso machine works a little better. Thinking outside the box, and coming up with solutions that make my life (and hopefully the lives of those around me) just a little better is a way of living up to the quote. I can be the Lorax who speaks for the baristas and tries to make our work just a little better.
The most powerful way that I have seen this quote apply is the intentionality I bring to my life every single day. By that I mean in the conscious decisions that I have made that brought me to where I am today. No one is going to create your life for you, and no one is going to give you the things you want. It is on you to go after them and to build the life that you want. Today I look around at my life; my adorable dogs sleeping on the couch; my wonderful husband playing video games in the living room; all the hints of the happy life that thrives in our home. Today, I am living my best life because I made it so. I know if I continue to care a whole awful lot about myself and my life, everything is only going to get better. It is.
The Thinking Issue 