I’ve read tons of other blogs and other articles calling on people to do their part to resist the current administration or more generally the “establishment”. While I do generally love this current establishment (Non political, my home country the USA) there is much to be desired as well. We live in a country that more or less gives us right to free speech and an opportunity to seek out our own living based on our acquired skills and experiences.. Please, spare us, I’m not saying that everything is perfect, in fact far from it but I am trying to look at the positive. I observe many people asking what they can do to help, or ways they can make a difference? Lately I have seen an abundance of articles of ways to do just that. This is one of em.
Let’s face it, we live in a world dominated by finance, credit, inflating prices, and stagnant wages. As I have learned pursuing a degree in Business Administration, The USA does have a systematic strata that is set up against the poor, lower, and middle class. This can be taken as my opinion but you can read about that yourself.. It takes massive amounts of money to start and fund businesses on the level required to be sufficient in the fast paced, technology based world. No matter what it always seems like they want money when you don’t have any, with ridiculous fees charged when there isn’t enough to pay the bills in the first place, as well as insane taxes on profits for small business owners. We also have college students who are unable to get good jobs and struggling to pay off loans that were required just to get through school.. won’t even bring up the medical cluster fuck.. The list of ways to stay broke ever increases whereas ways to make a decent living are drastically disappearing.
It does seem hopeless when you pit yourself against “the system” or “the establishment”.. So don’t do it.. There are healthy ways you can join millions of other dissatisfied citizens to subtly fight the good fight without spending your extra stress and energy. With diligence, patience, and motivation you may even be able to make yourself a little extra money on the side. Following is a small list of several things that you can do to take your mind off of the ever stressful world, while giving a little back and ultimately sticking it to the man where it really hurts them… their revenues. $$$
First off! Buy Local!!
You gotta start small. These are all things that are habits that you have to teach yourself and be diligent with. They aren’t revolutionary new tactics or strange thought processes. Yes it may be a little bit more expensive but the overall act of buying local is a healthy one. That money goes right back to your community, and helps a local family(s) support themselves. This simple habit directly takes millions out of the hands of big retail corporations when practiced on a large scale.
Food manufacturers spend billions on advertising to manipulate people into buying junk food. The simple act of eating healthy, and more locally, is actually sticking it to the man more than you would know. This goes hand in hand with buying local, you can get pretty much anything you would get at the grocery store, at local farmers markets. It takes a little more effort and yes it may be more expensive but being active to pursue a better world requires action, yeah? You know when buying your food from farmers markets that you are getting some of the best local produce available. Seasonally you can find discounts on certain produce as it come in and out of season. And if you like to eat out, which I do, why not smart phone up the best mom and pop local restaurants? You may find a new favorite place to eat and you are putting money back into families in your community. Again this directly takes massive amounts of money money out of the big food corporations bottom line, and puts it directly back into your own community.
Second. Live a healthier more active lifestyle.
Big Pharmaceutical companies are sneaky. This sector makes massive amounts of money effectively by keeping people sick, stressed, disabled, and addicted. Their marketing is genius in that it’s coming up with things to make people think they have something wrong with them and hey!! X company has some pill to make you feel better. This is compounded and made more successful because Americans are advertised and eat shitty food, are unhealthy in general, super stressed out, and addicted to random weird shit. I know I am, but being raised by medical professionals I learned to take care of and listen to my body.
Every single person is different and it’s not fair for me to generalize healthcare in the United States…………. but it’s pretty shitty. Way over priced and my families past several experiences were marred with basically what amounts to customer service problems. All they want to do is push some drugs on you somehow, sign you up for some chemical treatment, or resort to surgery. All these options are wildly expensive and don’t leave the patient with many options.
If you are an unhealthy person and actually need help, get it, don’t let my post deter you from getting the treatment that works best for you. Let us know in the comments. I encourage everyone to explore herbal and holistic treatments as well as a healthy lifestyle as a first way to combat the big pharma corporations.
There are options. It is difficult and it does require change in the way you eat, think, sleep, and work. Eating better is the simplest thing you can do that many people take for granted. I learned personally when i was around 27 years old that I can’t eat fast food like I used too. It just didn’t make me feel good anymore. If you are stressed out or need help focusing try meditating or reading about how to recenter yourself and take hold of emotions. Sleeping is required, it’s super good for you and insomnia is NOT A COOL OR TRENDY THING.. Feeling yourself and how your body reacts to the things you put into it is very important. Being healthy invalidates the big pharmaceutical industry, and effectively takes money out of their earnings. Fuck expensive pills and treatments, try being healthy first.
Third. Growing your own vegetables and fruit.
What better way to combine all of the previously mentioned methods of consumer disobedience into one single act. Growing vegetables, fruits, herbs, and spices is arguably the best way to stick it right to every man imaginable.
Having a garden is incredibly relaxing and teaches us how to nurture things. The art of growing anything is a crucial life skill, often taken for granted, and teaches patience. Ultimately a good hobby and habit of gardening of any kind will accomplish all of the above methods of resisting the big money corporations. You will eat healthier overall and be more aware of what you are putting into your body. Gardens give a calming new hobby that will help lower stress and hopefully be productive with healthy consumables you can enjoy most of the year round, which will save little bits of money. Lastly if you have the space and time you may consider growing extra and then selling produce at the local farmers markets, making yourself a small profit for your new hobby.
You can grow small herb and vegetable gardens right on a window sill or small raised beds in the front yard. Many varieties of edible plants are grown in pots or containers as well, it just takes a little bit of effort and will to do. It doesn’t have to be huge or super productive even just the act of gardening is a wholesome one that is great for kids and adults alike.
All of the above methods are simply suggestions of things you can do to help give back to your community overall, as well as live a little happier and healthier. There are many more ways to resist and do your part for a more equal world but All of these habits and actions have a proven effect on the revenues of mega corporations who have for decades taken advantage of workers and their labor.
In the end, we may never see the effects of the changes our single actions make, however if millions of individuals regularly partake in even the smallest ways, it adds up to billions and billions of dollars in lost revenues for the big companies that don’t serve the broader populace. Big corporations have been taking advantage of our economy and livelihood for decades and it feels to me like a shift is happening. You can start and be as active or passive as you want but the fact that you have read this far means you obviously care about our socio political world.
I am a big consumer as well, it’s in our culture. But we as consumers ultimately have the power, Americans have forgotten this. The very dollar that enslaves us is also what the big businesses of the world use as their bottom line for a measure of success. Our dollar and time is what validates them and ultimately makes them worth anything. We have the power, we earn more of it everyday, it’s up to us to use it.