Navigating a world that feels too much: Five reminders for intersectional activists
Key Takeaways
The crises of our time, such as wars, climate change, and animal farming, are all interconnected, rooted in the same systems of greed and exploitation.
Activism is not an individual burden; it is a collective effort. Focus on your sphere of influence, lean on community, and remember that small, consistent actions matter.
Sustainable activism means balancing urgency with rest, grounding ourselves in ethical living, and carrying the weight together with courage and compassion.
Scrolling through the news and social media these days, it's difficult not to have a lump in your throat and not to wonder how one person is supposed to respond to it all.
Palestine. Sudan. Congo. Earthquakes, floods, marine pollution, and wildfires. Billions of animals suffering unseen in factory farms. As activists, we carry these tragedies with us, and oftentimes they feel unbearable. How can we give enough attention to each crisis when new tragedies emerge every day? How can we balance caring for the Earth, for animals, for human beings, when everything feels urgent, and everything feels broken?
This overwhelm is not a personal failing, but a natural response to a world where systems of violence and exploitation have reached every corner of life. But if we want to keep going, and keep fighting the good fight, we need to find ways of holding this weight without being crushed by it.
Here are five reflections that might help.
1. Remember the bigger picture.
It’s natural to see each issue affecting the world as a separate matter. War in one place, famine in another, climate disasters elsewhere, and animal suffering in factory farms.
But these aren’t isolated issues. They’re all connected. Part of the ‘polycrisis’ affecting the world, powered by the same systems of greed, inequality, and domination everywhere. Recognizing these links gives clarity.
Many readers must have seen the popular post from social media that says even if you tug at one of the strings in this mosaic of issues affecting the world, you’re playing a part in solving the whole. Whether we fight for animals, humans, or the planet, we are resisting the same roots of exploitation. That means our struggles are not fragmented, but part of a single, greater struggle for justice (adl).
2. Lean on your fellow activists.
One of the heaviest aspects of activism is the feeling that you must respond to everything, everywhere, all at once. But no one can carry such a burden by themselves. But that is not a sustainable mode of operating.
Movements are not built on solitary effort. They are built on solidarity, networks, and shared responsibility. Activism becomes sustainable when we lean on each other, divide responsibilities, and allow ourselves to rest while others continue.
Remember, we don’t need a handful of perfect activists, but millions of imperfect ones.
3. Focus on your sphere of influence to combat paralysis.
“Where do I even begin?” – When facing so many crises at once, this question is bound to come to mind, and paralysis begins to set in.
The answer is to start where you are. Choose one or two areas where you can make the greatest impact, based on your skills, passions, and circumstances.
Of course, this doesn’t mean ignoring other issues. It means recognizing that no one can respond to everything, but each of us can meaningfully respond to something. And together, all of our somethings add up to a meaningful combined effect.
It’s important to learn to distinguish between what we can control, what we can influence, and what we must simply witness with patience and compassion. As the Qur’an reminds us, no soul is burdened beyond what it can bear (2:286).
4. Practice activism that sustains, not drains.
Urgency is important, but urgency alone is unsustainable. If our activism leaves us drained and despairing, then the systems we oppose have won twice over: once through their destruction, and once by crushing our spirits.
Sustainable activism involves holding on to and cherishing community and joy, wherever it is found. It means celebrating the small victories, honoring the importance of rest, and remembering that pausing to breathe and reflect is not weakness, but wisdom. And remember, wisdom is a good that keeps on giving: “he to whom wisdom is granted receiveth indeed a benefit overflowing” (Qur’an, 2:269).
5. Activism doesn’t always have to be grand. It can be found in the smaller acts.
Not every response must be a campaign or protest. The way we live our daily lives is also a form of activism.
Choosing compassion in what we eat, refusing wastefulness, being fair in our relationships, and consuming with awareness. It’s these quiet acts of resistance against systems built on harm that slowly push our movement forward.
Success, thy name is persistence.
The crises of our time are overwhelming; there’s no point pretending otherwise. But our responsibility is not to carry the entire world on our shoulders. It is to carry what we can, consistently and together.
We will not end all wars, stop all extinctions, or free all animals in our lifetime. But we can refuse to be complicit in their suffering. We can live in ways that resist injustice, and we can join hands with others doing the same.
Our task is not to fix everything. It is to keep showing up, with compassion and courage, even when the world feels too much:
“The most beloved deed to Allah is the most regular and constant even if it were little.”
