'The lies you tell yourself keep me awake at night'. Watching the world carry on as if everything is fine, while the damage to our planet deepens—it’s a weight I can’t shake. How much longer can we pretend not to see?
We’ve mastered the art of distraction. As the sun rises, so does our determination to ignore the storm clouds gathering on the horizon. It’s easier to pretend that the plastic bags, the car exhaust, and the piles of waste are someone else’s problem. We convince ourselves that the small things we do—or don’t do—won’t make a difference. We cling to the comforting lie that someone else will fix it, that there’s still time, that things aren’t really that bad. But deep down, we know the truth, don’t we?
We see the rivers running dry, the birds that no longer sing in our gardens, the once-lush forests reduced to barren stumps. We feel the seasons shift in strange and unsettling ways, but we silence the voice in our heads that says, this isn’t normal. We scroll through our feeds, consuming content that distracts us from the gnawing reality that we’re running out of time. We bury our heads in the sand, hoping the problems will disappear if we ignore them long enough.
But they won’t.
It’s not just the lies we tell others; it’s the lies we tell ourselves that do the most damage. It’s easier to think that one person can’t change the world than to accept that we’re all responsible. It’s easier to buy the convenient product wrapped in layers of plastic than to question the impact of our choices. It’s easier to live comfortably than to confront the discomfort of knowing our comfort comes at the planet’s expense.
I lie awake at night because I can’t turn away from what I see. Every choice we make has a ripple effect, touching lives beyond our own. Our actions impact the bees searching for dwindling flowers, the birds losing their habitats, the oceans choking on our waste. The earth is crying out, and it’s getting harder to drown out the sound.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. If we face the lies, if we acknowledge the truth that the earth needs us—now, more than ever—we can change the narrative. Every small action, every decision to live more mindfully, brings us one step closer to healing our broken relationship with the natural world.
How much longer can we pretend not to see? The answer lies in how willing we are to wake up and take responsibility—not just for our own sake, but for the sparrows, the hedgehogs, the trees, and all the wild things that still hope we can do better.