When we think about saving the world, our minds usually jump to massive, border-spanning societal shifts. We think about systemic changes, grand gestures, and global movements.

But true alignment doesn’t start at the border. It starts inside.

I am excited to share that my latest essay has been accepted into the upcoming anthology, How to Save the World—Beyond Borders, launching on June 30th.

When I sat down to write this piece, I kept coming back to a truth that anchored my entire recovery journey in Soul-Happy: we cannot heal an external environment if we are operating from a state of internal exile. To cross borders and effect change out there, we have to be willing to navigate the terrain within ourselves first.

We often view our personal struggles, illnesses, or moments of feeling stuck as signs that we are fundamentally broken. But over the years, I’ve come to understand a different paradigm.

We’re not broken. We’re just misaligned.

When we are misaligned with our deepest truth, it manifests as numbness, exhaustion, or physical unwellness. “Saving the world” isn’t about rushing out to fix everything and everyone else. True preservation starts when we take responsibility for reconnecting inward. We aren’t building a new version of ourselves from scratch; we are simply remembering who we have always been.

The How to Save the World—Beyond Borders anthology features a collection of voices looking at global impact through a deeply compassionate lens, and I am honored to have my perspective included.

I don’t have the official order link for this brand-new edition just yet, but the release is on June 30th. In the meantime, you can explore the incredible work done in the previous editions of the anthology series right here.

With love and gratitude,

Anette