a gentle, but firm call-in: stop outsourcing your thinking and plans of what to do, whether it be looking to "chat" to tell you what to do, or to an influencer to spoon-feed you a surefire tutorial on how to fix a democracy *with one easy hack.* critical thinking and implementing change and action can only be strengthened by practice. we are living in an era during which we have an endless buffet of information available to us in an instant way that has never been the case in history. with that, there are natural downsides to this all-you-can-eat-buffet of information: some info has listeria that will make you sick, some info will keep you well-fed and nourished, some info are things you've never seen before, some are info that will inspire you to seek more of it. there are so many incredible people on these platforms with a wealth of knowledge in their respective fields that we all learn from every day, that put out thoughtstarters, breakdowns and explanations, and helpful guidance on how to get the ball rolling in various ways— but at some point, we need to take that information, 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳-𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘇𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀, and 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲𝘀. ESPECIALLY in the realm of politics, I understand that so many people are just getting their bambi legs under them while stepping into the realm of advocacy and participating in democracy in a more immersive way for the first time (which, YAY), but the key to coalition and organizing is to jump in and get your hands dirty rather than agonizing over the perfect, most convenient way to effect change, or to look to someone else to give you a foolproof manual on how to change minds in your community and have conversations.