Blog originally published: Everyday Power Blog
1. Stay informed and educated on the issue. In this day and age where things change more often than they stay the same, make sure that you stay abreast of any new developments concerning your issue and keeping those major talking points on top of mind. Continue to research the various aspects of your issue and examine it from a financial, social and environmental angle. Depending on how concerned or supportive you are, you can set alerts on your search engines to inform you when there are new developments regarding the cause. The more aware you are of the subject matter, regardless of what side you are on, the more confident you can be in your position. Your knowledge level exemplifies that you are not swayed by the crowd but intentionally supporting a cause that means more to you than being a bandwagon fan of a certain issue, cause or organization.
2. Be empathetic. In our most passionate appeals, we lean heavily on how we feel. To be the most effective in conveying your message you must always consider how the other person or the other side relates and where they get their logic from. What makes them feel that way? To be the most effective you must appeal to their biggest concerns on their side of the issue. To ignore their argument is to weaken your own. As affirmative as you may be in our assertions, they are too, in theirs. Even in the most contentious debates, if both sides dig in long enough, you will find that you can meet in the middle where humanity lies and find elements to agree on. Being empathetic allows you to improve your own quality of life by expanding your ability to see past your own life and broaden your thoughts and emotions to the circumstances of others. To do this, you must be a listener and open enough to imagine a life that you may never experience personally. Being empathetic is a choice. As hard as it may be, it can benefit your stance and your own quality of life.
3. Be logical. Feelings don’t have logic but you can apply logic to your feelings when you are expressing reasons for your advocacy to be taken seriously. You can leverage statistics and research that have been done to support your ideas. The great thing about information these days is that it is easily and quickly accessible. You can ask Siri or Google just about anything. You can pull statistics and facts that used to take days and weeks to research. This method will always give your concerns more power. There is truly strength is numbers. You can track trends in support or opposition and what may have caused it to shift. All of these tidbits of information can be leveraged to help you stand up for what you feel is right or wrong. Showing how the support in your ideas can increase betterment and quality of life with numbers makes it that much more powerful. Find the proof and use it. Understand it. Stand strong in your truth and feel confident.
4. Write about it. Don’t just talk about it, write about it. Write into organizations that can positively affect outcomes. If it’s legislative, write to your local representatives. If it’s educational, write into the superintendent or chancellor. If it effects your city, write to your mayor and city councilmen. Send info into publications that cover the subject matter. Contact website editors that deal with your issue. Start a blog. Connect through your writing your passion for your purpose and advocacy. That is everlasting. You can be the change agent that many have been too afraid to be themselves. Getting your writings out of your head and on paper or your screen gives you an opportunity to review your thoughts and fine-tune your methods and reasons for your support of your cause. It will also leave a record for your future advocates to see how far you have come. This also allows you to be a thought-leader. Even when several people have the same stand on an issue, many times it can be for different reasons which then allows for various different positions to be brought forward for consideration. You never know when your courageous actions can be put into words that have not yet been spoken. Most importantly, your writings can be the spark that starts a movement or at least lets another know that they are not alone in their mindset. Writing connects us. It connects us to our past and to each other.
5. Get involved. If your issue or cause is very important to you, I would suggest that you join other groups and agencies that support and contribute to the cause. Although each human experience is unique, joining a group that supports certain issues is not. Seeking out and getting involved with organizations will connect you to like-minded individuals and give you even more of an outlet for your writings, empathetic words and spread of researched information. Everyone brings a unique perspective to an organization. Joining a group that supports your cause can only strengthen and further the progress. There really is strength in numbers. If you find that you cannot identify a group or organization, start one. Be the spark that ignites the fire that brings.
Blog originally published: https://everydaypowerblog.com/2017/01/10/stand-up-for-what-you-believe-in/
Tonya McKenzie