Calls for change are a regular refrain these days. Maybe it’s because we all have a voice via social media and the internet. Maybe it’s because it’s an election year. Maybe it’s the effects of being quarantined for the last 6 weeks.

Whatever the case may be, there’s no shortage of calls to change our current attitudes, behaviors, and/or laws to stem the effects of climate change, improve the safety of public places, provide access to health care, reduce the number of homeless, and the list goes on.

When calling for change, we (which includes me) ask questions like why aren’t people doing more? Why aren’t our community leaders and government officials responding to calls for action? Why aren’t businesses, both big and small, stepping up to support and improve the communities they do business in?

While these and others are all great questions, perhaps the questions we should be asking is how can I effect change? How can I influence things? How can I become part of the solution?

Over the last few years, I’ve learned that making change happen requires focusing on what I control. If I want to create change, it starts with me, my choices, my actions, my behaviors. I can’t control what other people do. I can’t control what other people think.

Will my choices and actions change the course of the world? I don’t know, but does it matter? It shouldn’t. What matters is if I am doing my part. By doing my part, I become an example. I walk the walk and let my actions speak for me. As the old adage goes, talk is cheap. The only thing that really matters is what I do.

So if I want to see change, I have to look at myself. I have to examine my choices and decisions. Instead of waiting for others to change, for someone else to champion the cause, or for laws to get created to enforce behaviors, I can do my part, starting now. I can be an example of the change I want to see through my choices and actions.

Will it change the world? Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. But every little bit helps, and either way, at least I can be at peace knowing I am doing my part.