An Antidote to Hopelessness

When we look at the immense suffering of animals caused by factory farming, it's hard to not be traumatized, angry, and depressed.

I remember years ago, at one of my first animal rights conferences, talking with someone at the Animal Legal Defense Fund booth about this. How do you keep working on advocating for animals when the reality is so soul-crushing?

I haven't forgotten what he said in response. He said that he faced this exact same problem himself, and that a long time ago he realized: "You can be depressed, or you can action."

Of course depression and action are not mutually exclusive. But in general, I have found this idea to be mostly true through my years of advocating for animals. One of the greatest antidotes to hopelessness is to take action—get involved, however you can, being part of the solution.

And when failures and setbacks inevitably happen (as they always do), the solution is once again the same—you can more quickly work through your disappointment by figuring out what your next action will be.

Because it's important to remember why we're here: to make a difference for animals. But rather than letting that knowledge carry us into a dark place of stagnation, we can instead use it to inspire us into action that makes the world a better place.