Your life doesn't have to be a prototype for the world. 

What you do doesn't have to be something that would create an ideal world if EVERYONE did it. 

Different people have different needs. We want a diverse world that's working for each person, not a bunch of robots being forced into conformity. 

## Thinking of the Whole
<br>Which isn't to say that we should ignore the needs of a planet with 7 Billion people and counting, plus many other life forms trying to thrive here. A part of our own well-being is that well-being. 

But not everything you do can be what's best for the whole if all people do it. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. It just means you probably shouldn't open up a company or promote any law that tries to make it the global norm to do it. 

You still have a primary responsibility to take care of yourself and create a fulfilling, healthy, thriving life for yourself. The world needs you in your thriving!

## For Example
<br>Yesterday [I wrote](https://steemit.com/life/@indigoocean/how-large-can-your-idea-of-family-be) about growing our concept of "family" to include more than just our biological family, then considering how we don't use money within families. There are some villages to this day that don't use any system of tracking transactions within the entire village, though most of human history does include the use of money, even within very small villages. So apparently it can work either way. 

My question was how large a number of people one could personally consider workable for such a "family style village." What I could see in the pattern of people's answers was that their minds immediately jumped to some version of, "What if everyone on Earth lived this way instead?"

Yet the question is specifically assuming a number less than "all." But the assumption so many of us have been trained into is that anything we want as an improved way of living for ourselves, must be something we think would be an improved way of living for the world.

**Noooo!**

What this world needs is more diversity. We need more people living more ways of living in local communities.

We need people eating locally grown/raised food. Wearing locally created clothing. Exchanging locally created gifts. And so on. 

> And we need a greater diversity of options for how one might live.

<br>Now I love all the electronics I can get from around the world, and I definitely want the global economy to continue also. We can have both a global economy and rich local economies, but only if people take action to create the latter. There are definitely many global corporations making sure the global economy will thrive. The thriving of local economies is not so assured. 

## Choose and See
<br>Eat what you want, without thinking that the planet now has to support 7 billion people eating your diet. Newsflash: 7 billion people don't like what you like or have bodies that need what yours needs! 

I have an allergy to dairy, beans and eggs. These are some of the most commonly eaten foods on the planet! Clearly I'm not going to try to fashion my diet as a prototype for the entire human race. 

Produce financial value however much you want, realizing that your deciding to meditate in nature more and create widgets less is not going to collapse the global economy. 

Spend time with others or spend time alone. This world will make the most of either of your choices.

That's right: this is an adaptive world that is really good at wringing value out of everything anyone does. It will shape itself to benefit from your choices however it can. And so long as those choices are coming from a fundamental intention to bring more happiness, health and joy into this world, I have faith that benefit can in fact be created out of it. 

## Worry About Waste
<br>As I mentioned earlier, we do want to include the well-being of the planet within our idea of our personal well-being. But including it doesn't mean being lorded over by ideas about what would be best for the world if 7 Billion people did it. You aren't going to get 7 billion people do agree on anything. So the scale you should be considering in what you do comes down to you doing it. 

If your action would do more harm than good, don't do it. It won't bring you the happiness you want. Otherwise, do what you think is best for you, then see what happens. Learn from your experience to keep improving the outcomes from your choices. 

The more we do this, the more we get to live with a lot less blame, shame, guilt, and self-doubt. And that means a world with a lot more joy, confidence, health, and the generosity that flows more freely when people feel both secure and free. 

Please set yourself free from the tyranny of having to live as an example for the world! Be the change of daring to be happy and thriving in your own life. That is what the world needs most. 

![hot-air-ballons-1373167_1280.jpg](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmbCvaJakpKJXYiX9ECBqNtyQJU7JbXaMysv1Fv4jLBkan)
*[Source](https://pixabay.com/en/hot-air-ballons-balloons-flying-1373167/)*