When I was in college, most countries in the world were ruled by dictators who imprisoned and tortured those who didn’t submit. I was constantly told of the suffering these dictators caused. Then, almost miraculously, those dictators fell within a short span of time and democracies sprang up to replace them. This positive turn of events was beyond my wildest dreams. I was thrilled, but no one around me seemed happy about it. They had already shifted to the next crisis. So instead of celebrating, I embraced the negativity that surrounded me.
Since that time, I have watched dozens of crises come and go. I have noticed the way people pride themselves on their ability to find evidence of crisis. And I realized that I would never feel good if I waited for the people around me to feel good. You may think it’s wrong to feel good while others are suffering, but if that were true, no one in human history could ever have felt good.
You may think it’s delusional to focus on good when evidence of suffering is everywhere. But the dog poop rule can help us be realistic. When 80 percent of pet owners let their dogs mess on the streets, we take that mess for granted, but when 20 percent of pet owners let their dogs mess on the streets, we say “what is wrong with this world!” We humans solve problems because our mammal brain creates a sense of urgency, which sends our intelligent cortex looking for new information. There will always be problems, a feeling of urgency, and a quest for new information. It will never be the right time to feel good unless you make it your personal mission to do so. I hope you will do it now instead of waiting as long as I did.