My highest traffic blog posts in 2019:
Honorable mentions:
Most important personal news of the year:
Also if you haven’t seen my film American Circumcision go watch it here.
This Christmas, we need to talk about a serious issue:
SANTA DENIALISM.
Everyone knows Santa is real. Virtually every major company from Coca-Cola to Disney acknowledges his existence. Even the US government tracks Santa with NORAD every year. These are highly reputable organizations. Are you Santa deniers saying that they’re ALL lying to us? What are you, some kind of conspiracy theorist?
Santa deniers have their own alternative facts. They publish books and documentaries about the “history” of Santa. Some claim he was invented by the Coca-Cola company, and others say he was based on a historical figure named Saint Nicholas. Uh, get your story straight, Santa deniers. Ours is clear. Watch a commercial or a Hallmark movie, or something.
These Santa deniers will get upset that we don’t respond to their “arguments.” Why would we respond to your little history channel documentaries, when there are big budget Hollywood movies about Santa? Plus, their arguments are stupid. “The mall Santa isn’t real.” Of course, Santa denier – the REAL Santa lives at the North Pole. The ones in malls are just actors (like in the movies).
Parents who deny Santa shouldn’t be allowed to send their kids to school those who do celebrate Christmas. They might spread their Santa denialist beliefs, and cause our kids not to get presents, or worse, get coal. Santa helps children around the world behave nice, instead of naughty. If I want to use Santa to make my kids act nice, that is my parental choice.
The cultural benefits of Santa outweigh any Santa denialist arguments. Accusing parents of “lying to children” when they tell them about Santa is harassment. When you say things like “Santa isn’t real,” you’re making deeply offensive anti-Christmas statements. Santa denialists are really just secret Grinches. These people are a hate group. If you don’t believe in Santa, unfriend me now.
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We all know it. We’ve all felt it.
Anyone who has ever tried to change the world has had that moment of wondering: “Is this worth it? Is this working?”
I struggled with it myself. No one goes SIX YEARS on a single project without a few dark nights of the soul.
Yet, nearly two years after our first screening I’m still here. Still regularly going on podcasts and speaking at conferences.
This year alone, I spoke at three major events: ICMI – The International Conference on Men’s Issues, APPPAH – the Association for Pre and Perinatal Psychology, and Aion Con.
You might not have heard of that last one. That’s because Aion Con was an entirely online conference, with the theme “The Plot to Save The World,” in which different speakers spoke on the mindset necessary for change.
As you might imagine, this was a perfect fit for me.
I went from nothing to a documentary Presidential candidates talk about, on one of the hardest most emotionally draining issues a person can work on.
Many of you who have seen American Circumcision have told me you want to make a difference.
Perhaps you’ve already started your activism. Maybe you’re a pro, who’s been at this for years. Or maybe you’re just starting out.
Whatever stage you’re at there will be a point where you experience doubt and hardship. You might even think about giving up or need to “take a break from activism.”
Burnout is a real issue.
It is difficult to face the problems of the world, and the magnitude of effort needed to create change without that pain effecting you in some way.
People have even ended their own lives when faced with the pain of change work. This is a serious issue.
However, if you’re willing to face that pain, activism could be a joy, or even energize you.
I don’t mean pushing through or ignoring it. I mean transformation. You could actually transform those feelings of burnout into fuel for your work.
This goes for any change the world project by the way – a non-profit, a protest, a documentary, an art project, a book, a lawsuit – whatever your “thing” is, the mindset principles are the same.
In my talk for Aion Con, I’ll show you how to turn burnout into fuel.
Plus, the conference includes a ton of other speakers, with different backgrounds who’ve been doing change work in other fields.
You won’t just get my talk, but a ton of other content on the mindset needed to change the world.
The conference is entirely online, so you can watch from where ever you are in the world.
Get tickets here.
P.S. Yes, that is an affiliate link. If you buy through there, I get a commission. If you’d like to be an affiliate as well and help share this talk, you can sign-up here.