Are you feeling alone in the world, insignificant and of little use?  Become part of a beautiful landscape.  Dive into a group, an club, a service.  Contribute your time, expertise, muscle, ideas to something that interests you.  It does not matter if you think you will be of use.  Your probably won’t be of great value at first.  But you will be if you stick with it.

Two years ago I started running in an organized group from a running store in Tulsa called Fleet Feet.
I was out of shape and started with a group that ran 1 minute then walked 3.  It was sometimes tough.  I was not contributing much. I was making friends though and encouraging them when I could catch my breath. Now it is 2 years later and I am a coach of that same group.  I lead the out of shape people. I direct them to their goal. I contribute in larger ways now than I could have before.  I am part of a beautiful landscape of humans working to be healthy and I love that.

Here are some things you can do:

Join a nature group. That could be helping in a urban wilderness area, or helping at a community garden center.

Join a political movement.  You want to have passion in your life? Get connected to a cause, you will be surrounded by passion.  Just don’t join some stupid group that hates, ok?

Volunteer with a cure group.  What runs in your family?  Heart disease? Autism? Schizophrenia? Cancer?  Make yourself of worth to that group, be part of the cure.

Join a mentor program.  What are you good at and love?  Do you know how many people need help learning to read? How many kids need help with math?

Help out with animals.  No city has enough funds or people to take care of the stray animals they find.  No zoo has enough people to take care of the animals and the visitors as they would like.  No breed of dog or cat will reject your help in rescuing them.

If you are isolated you can change that. If you are alone and lonely, you can change that. If you are not part of the wider world, you can change that.  Take the step.  Be part of the beautiful landscape.

Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman

“The most beautiful order of the world is still a random gathering of things insignificant in themselves.” – Heraclitus, of which we know nothing. Well, ok. He was Greek and lived 540BCE – 480BCE, but that’s all we know.