You are a Lefty, Feminist, Socialist, Anarchist, Communist, Environmentalist, Marxist… You love politics, and activism. You believe in changing the world.

And in entirely unrelated news… you are a tad miserable. Depressed. Anxious. Your life is… how can we say it…? Falling short of your expectations.

Perhaps you’re broke, unemployed, skint. Perhaps you are stuck in a miserable job. Perhaps you are disabled, depressed, a survivor of past trauma. You are permanently shaking your fist at the sky.

Perhaps you are a journalist, or a political writer like me, and you’re tired of seeing the world ignore you. You are exhausted from writing political piece after political piece, truth after well researched, thoroughly thought truth, only to watch nobody pay you or your ideas any attention. I know how frustrating it feels. I’ve been there… heck, I’m still there!

And so you’re in pain… oh, the pain of your life. You’re sad, lonely, poor. You’re hurting all over. You fear you will never get anywhere, time will pass you by, you will never achieve anything, and all because this world is too capitalist, or patriarchal… simply wrong. It could never make room for someone like you to achieve your dreams, right?

Wait, dreams? What’s that again?

You have a dream, but it’s just not happening. You’re stuck. You can’t get round to muster the energy it takes to put yourself in motion.

Perhaps you feel like something’s gotta give. And you fear that it may have to be your political activism. Because feminism, or the Left, are getting in the way of your life. They are making you miserable.

Perhaps you feel at a crossroads: that path takes you towards a happy life; that path takes you down Activist Lane, a sure road towards more unhappiness powered by the feeling that “the world has got to change and I’ll do everything it takes to change it”.

You rage at the news of yet another horrible thing the government is doing. You want to live in a better world, but it’s not happening. So you suffer.

So do I.

Here’s my theory: people want to be happy, at least a tiny bit. And yet, wanting to change the world often requires us to focus on precisely what is wrong with it, which can make us seriously unhappy.

I believe that unless political activists find a way to be happy while keeping up with their political activism, they will end up dropping the political activism.

And I don’t want to see that happening.

You don’t have to sacrifice your political beliefs, your core values, in order to be happy.

But how can you possibly be happy in a world gone mad?

We are going to explore how. Together, you and I.

Because I’m in this journey too.

We’ll keep all our political convictions intact… but we’ll find an easier way to live with them.

There is another way. We don’t have to compromise. We can be happy and politically conscious.

And all it takes is for us to shift our mindset, readjust our worldview.

Turn widdershins… and see the world through different eyes. Arrive at a different reality.

And yes… it is magical.