A Personal Revolution

In life we are often confined to a certain roles brought on to us by life choices that sometimes do not play out as we expected. Instead of blaming others it is useful to accept your reality as your own and let your spiritual being guide you in the right direction. The elimination of the word blame from your vocabulary is an important step in your path to personal revolution, for it is difficult to focus on building a better world when you are in the mindset of "it's your fault".
  Too often I here people say that one person can't change the world, or their say or actions makes no difference in the outcome. This is bullshit. This kind of attitude is the reason why so many people are saddled with huge amounts of debt and are stuck in dead end jobs until retirement. You and you alone are responsible for your life, making small changes over a long period of time will lead you to your goals. Be patient. Once you start to realize some of your goals people will begin to take notice, you will start to change the world through your example. If you force it, nature will fight back. This doesn't mean you shouldn't share your goals with other people, social media is a great place to meet like minded individuals, test out brand ideas or get a feel for a particular niche. You will find a good balance of encouragement and criticism along the way, both are great tools, use them to your advantage. Some people may begin to feel alienated by some of your actions, this is normal, you will never see eye to eye with everyone. I would be most careful with family members, they are your direct support group. Make sure you explain yourself and what brought you to the point of personal revolution. I know I have made mistakes along this road in the past and continue to struggle with it. Make amends asap. If you follow three basic ethics (care of the earth, care of people, return the surplus) you will have a much easier time with the transition, and remember it is a long road.
  In my life I have certain long term goals and ideas to help myself accomplish them. I see learning opportunities in even the most mundane of tasks, pattern surrounds us, and using pattern recognition can actually make the boring everyday tasks quite fascinating, albeit often in hindsight. I believe in problem based solutions and voting with your wallet. Even though I am employed by a large faceless corperation, I strive to support local business and someday plan to have my own. Instead of taking on more debt via student loans and such I am working a high paying job and choosing to self educate with online courses and plan on using a portion of my tax return to pay for hands on courses not offered through standard educational pathways. My job is a large portion of my education, transferable skills are in everything we do. At 34 years old I refuse to accept the status quo. Education is a life long endeavor.
The one ethic that is most strained by my current occupation is care of the earth. I am a heavy equipment operator in one of the largest industrial projects on earth, the Alberta tar sands. This requires me to travel 1500km from home twice a month, where I rent a room in Fort McMurray. Here's where I must choose to start giving back to the earth. I do not have a vehicle when I am away, opting to walk to the grocer, where I purchase as much organic food as possible, and refrain from all GMO frankenfood. I ride the bus to and from work every day. When at home I use a good portion of my income on locally grown food, and have started a facebook campain to advocate local growers and crafters (www.facebook.com/comoxvalley100). I function stack my personal vehicle use, making sure to limit my trips to town and accomplish multiple tasks whilst there. I will often park in a central location, then walk or bike to the many different local shops I need to visit. We have sold our home in the country and have purchased a rural property only minutes from downtown. In the summer months my wife is planning to bike to work on a regular basis, and I will be running many of my light duty errands on a bicycle year round, weather permitting. We plan to retrofit our new home with solar panels for electrical generation and I will be installing rain water catchment for irrigation of our perennial based food forest. We are turning oil dollars into a resilient, sustainable homestead that will benefit the community and our family for generations. Using the problem to create a solution. You need to view life with a whole systems approach.
  This journey we are on can take us to places we never thought we would go. As you navigate this crooked path remember to take notes, share your experiences with those who are willing to listen and never give up on yourself. You can change the world, good will always be triumphant.