First of all, all of us here at LitterProject wish you a great holiday season, full of good feeling, laughter and love!
I’ve been thinking a great deal about the concept outlined in the 7 keys: “be prepared to do the activity yourself and enjoy it” and wanted to elaborate a little on why this is so important.
As you may have experienced in life, many people can be reluctant to join you in doing something new, unless they can understand exactly what will be involved and how will it benefit themselves. The easiest way to communicate this is to simply participate in cleaning up litter yourself and revel in the feeling of 1) making an immediate difference and, 2) getting good practice at being the kind of person who makes a difference every day.
It’s funny, but it is very difficult to express how wonderful a particular feeling is– or how important a particular activity is– in words alone. At the end of the day, people tend to want a more visceral cue as to what to expect. Your happy, shining, satisfied face can indicate this and make people curious– and perhaps, even to join in.
At the end of the day, it is much more attractive (meaning will attract more participants) if you enjoy what you are doing, than if you are upset at the litterers and highlighting those feelings of anger, disappointment and disillusion.
You are in control of your attitude, and my guess is, if you find something like LitterProject appealing, you are the kind of person who enjoys making the world a better place. So… keep up the good work and don’t be shy about why you enjoy making a difference! Some may scratch their heads at your activity, but even more will join you…..