The idea that we can fit one more item on our to do lists feels unbearable. Too much to do feels like this generation’s curse. We might shake our heads and throw out a blithe “first world problems” line, but really we feel those things. And they are valid.

Still, we feel compelled to reach outside ourselves, to ‘give back’. Research tells us we give because we feel better when we do. Does it matter to whomever we touch that it benefits us as much, if not more, than them?

Within the fabric of my privilege, I have discovered my voice. I am compelled, obligated, driven, to say, “no more!” to the world’s big problems, including the ones impacting my own family. That process has led me to various new projects. It has changed the way I think, why I write, how I work and what I do. And it has created an ever growing to do list of actions I can take, posts I can write, thoughts I can share on social media. Added are their off-line counterparts like book clubs and events and sharing with my friends through every channel I have available, the things I’m passionate about.

Even more powerful has been the chance to layer the concepts of contribution and global awareness into my mothering. Not in the sense of ‘saving’ others. But in the sense of doing all we can to give others a chance to save themselves.

About the Author

Chrysula Winegar

Chrysula Winegar is a communicator, agitator and mother. Founder of Wake Up World Communications, she has spent twenty years in marketing communications, training and project management based in Sydney, London and New York with companies like Ernst & Young, NatWest UK and Estee Lauder Companies. More recently she has focused on nonprofit work with campaigns like #GivingTuesday, Shot@Life and the Global Mom Relay. She is the Community Manager for the United Nations Foundation's maternal and child health site, the Million Moms Challenge. Chrysula is passionate about social media for social good and was named one of Babble’s “Top 25 Bloggers Who Are Changing the World”.