The Beginning of Advocacy: Finding Your Way by Answering Your Why
The first write-up in the AYAN-Singapore’s #MySDGOurFuture Series by Julce Cayetano
“He who has a why to live for can bear almost anyhow.”
— Friedrich Nietzsche
The world is drowning with questions, but so is your mind. You see the environment slowly degrading, but how come you feel powerless for not doing anything? You scream in front of your TV day by day for the oppression of your fellow citizen, but then you ask again, when will I be heard?
You cannot breathe because no one is answering. You want to act, but you do not know what to do. What if the answer is not asking WHAT but instead finding your WHY.
In Search of WHY
In reality, searching for your why is not as easy as snapping a finger. However, there are a few steps that you can follow as a guiding light in reaching your passion.
STEP 1: Collect and Share Your Stories
Your story is your weapon for fighting for your cause, as well as defining your WHY. Find quality stories that are sharp enough to strike someone’s emotion. For example:
STORY: That night is when I thought everything will soon vanish — the loneliness, the pain, the suffering. As I was doing my last act of being alive, then came the realization that I needed to communicate what was happening to my family. I opened up what was closed. Unexpectedly, more doors welcomed me, and that is when I found a home.
STEP 2: Identify Themes
A theme is the main highlight of your story. What is its moral? What can other people perceive after hearing it? Understand the main point of why you chose to tell that story. For instance, the theme of our story is:
THEME: Courage to communicate feelings to liberate self from suffering; and the recognition of the relevance of social support.
STEP 3: Drafting and Refining Your Why Statement
After understanding the theme of your story, you will proceed with drafting your statement. According to Simon Sinek, author of the book Finding Your Why, your WHY statement must be:
- simple and clear
- actionable
- focused on the effect you will have on others
- expressed in affirmative language that resonates with you
and will be structured like this:
TO _____ SO THAT _____
The first blank space is where you will insert your contribution, the act that you will do to achieve the second blank space, i.e., your impact. Your impact is the vision that you see as a result of doing your actions in the present. To put it into context, the impact will be the destination, while your contributions will be the steps you make to reach that destination.
Here is how we will position our WHY statement:
To inspire people who may have already lost hope in choosing life by learning to communicate what they feel, so that no one will ever feel alone again.
Your WHY, Your FUTURE
Knowing your WHY is more than just setting your intention. To know your WHY means to set a direction on how you will do things according to your values. It is a crucial element in knowing what kind of steps you need to make the unmovable move.
At this moment, you may be trying to look for the defining moments in your lifetime. Bear in mind that your WHY is your story, and that story will unfold chapters full of answers to the drowning world.
Start searching, and remember that the WAY is in the WHY.
In the next series, you will learn more about turning your WHY into actionable causes based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Tune in to AYAN-Singapore’s #MySDGOurFuture.
