On Our Social Venture – Our idea

BASICALLY



We’re going to create a program that will make people addicted to doing things they can be proud of.

THIS WILL



Help people build an emotional resume that people can draw strength from in times of difficulty.

We hope a fundamental realization will hit them – you have enormous potential.

And through hard work, persistence, and the opportunities to pursue your passions in an environment that encourages constructive failure and embraces imperfection, you can unleash that potential.

HOW IT WILL WORK



Each participant will work with a mentor to design a “program” based on his/her interests and passions. Starting from simple concrete active baby steps, and eventually moving towards the miraculous, participants will develop real skills and gradually build a sense of self-worth by actively engaging in their passions.

WE WILL PROVIDE



The Opportunities: We’ll show you what’s out there. We’ll help you (re)discover your passions and help you design your “program” around those passions.

The Connections: We’ll bring in the talented cool people who will teach you what you want to know and help you do what you want to do.

The Community: We’ll give you the environment you need to succeed. We’ll push you to achieve, and encourage you to fail and learn from that failure (and each others’ failures) in the process. We won’t claim to have all the answers. We won’t do dogma.

FOR EXAMPLE



All your life, you (and three of your fellow participants), have wanted to try playwriting.

For whatever reason, you never got around to trying it. Maybe you didn’t feel you had the time. Maybe you didn’t have the money. Maybe you didn’t have the sand to ante up – you were intimidated and afraid to fail. Who knows.

Now we give you your shot. (And it’s just one among many – if you find you don’t like it, you can try something else, or try multiple things concurrently)

We bring in a local playwright (someone legit), and they work with you. You start simple – just a character sketch. Then you write your first line. Then you move on and write a scene – just one scene. Then you write another…and another…and another. And then you rewrite each scene over and over until it fits your standards (your new standards after you’ve worked with the playwright). Etc.

Until you realize you’ve finished your first short play.

Then you get together with your fellow participants – those who have the shared interest in playwriting – and together you write another short play, using what you’ve learned. Again, the playwright(s) guides you.

At a certain point, you guys find you’ve written a cool play. It’s not necessarily brilliant (maybe it is), but it’s not half bad either. Hell, it’s pretty damn decent, if you do say so yourself.

Then we bring in a group of local actors (legit people). They perform a show for you – maybe their own play. And then they perform your play. For you.

You could not be more thrilled to see this happen. You could not be more proud. You never in your life imagined you were capable of this. No one ever knew. You never knew.

But now you do.

And there’s no turning back.

***

Do you see where I’m going with this? The possibilities are endless. As exciting as they are to me, I won’t risk boring you with them.

I firmly believe that if you do enough things outside of your comfort zone – things you are passionate about, but perhaps never got to try – and you persist (w/guidance) through the stages where you inevitably will suck a little, eventually you will succeed a little at some of them. That fuels your confidence more and more, until you realize the immense potential that exists w/in you. In the right environment, this blossoming sense of self-worth can propel you to accomplish miraculous things, whether miraculous on a personal scale, or on society’s scale.

It’s a long gradual process, but it’s real.

Yes, we have kinks to work out. There’s a hell of a lot of stuff we have to work out.

Yes, we are young, and inexperienced, and lack “credibility.”

Yes, the stakes are high. Potentially life or death.

Will we move forward with our venture?

Absolutely.

I believe our venture will revolutionize the way depression is treated. If it doesn’t, oh well. We’ll learn so much from having tried it. And we’ll try something else, using what we’ve learned.

While I am rather fervently against therapy and medication as long-term solutions to depression, I recognize that they are useful to some people. In fact, my team often berates me for being so aggressive in my critiques of traditional interventions.

Let me make it clear once and for all – if therapy and medication work for you, stick with it. And to all the psychiatrists and psychotherapists who also are sympathetic human beings, and who devote themselves to helping their patients -  I have the utmost respect for you.

But there is no reason whatsoever not to have another option available.

Fundamentally, that is what we are – just another option.

You should know: This iteration of our idea is only ten or so days old. I only met my team 2 months ago. We’ve only been brainstorming for that long. We have so much to learn.

We would love nothing more than to hear your feedback. Be as harsh as you will, or as generous as you will. Above all, be genuine – that will be most useful of all.

You should also know:

If you’re gonna hate on me w/o providing constructive criticism…

Well, I listen to Chamillionaire (car radio) and very much identify:

"I admit it, I'm really 'bout to show you how I do

If you know that you a hater, this dedicated to you

You hatin' my last move, I'm way on my next move

See they hate to see you be successful"

-Chamillionaire in "Good Morning"

So there it is - our gift to the world. It's pretty simple, really, but elegant in its simplicity, I think.

Let us know what you think! And I wish you all the best for the coming new year!

-David

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