Togetherness is the breath of purpose
Internalized sources of motivation can drive us through the times the world doubts us. They may grant a fearlessness of uncertainty that allows us to break through to new heights of success. They provide a sense of purpose that external motivators, such as praise, acceptance, or wealth, hardly ever do.
Internalized motivation is the burst of strength we have when we need it, but after a while, it gives way to deep exhaustion. For the internally motivated, the world may be an antagonist from whom they need to escape. That was me for a long, long time.
I love to run away to the mountains. When my dog died, I dealt with it by climbing Mt. Whitney. Bad break up? See you in a few days. Existential crisis? Nothing a high alpine lake can’t clear up. It was in the mountains that I felt a spiritual clarity, and that spirituality was an independent experience that I knew I shared with millions upon millions of people in the world.
I didn’t know I shared that with my friend and co-founder, Madeleine. At least, I didn’t know how in tune we were with our purpose until we spent some time up high together. By a waterfall on a lake, we felt the meaning of the singular word that drives us both to work on our company — Pristine.
There’s a large portion of this world that is still pristine, but we spent our lives watching what was once pristine become drawn and quartered by human activity. These actions cannot be reversed. The only way we can save the pristine is by creating a circular economy for the things we need such as plastics, textiles, fuels, and minerals.
Circular economies have knock-on effects, such as clean water and carbon sequestration. When we leave our forests and grasslands be, they draw carbon dioxide from the air and store it in their roots. When we reduce our waste, we avoid the build-up of pollution that leeches toxins into our rivers, lakes, and aquifers. In the pristine, there are solutions to some of our most pressing issues.
When we shared our drive for saving the pristine, we created a togetherness that was strengthened later that evening. When asked whether she would join the first Mars expedition if she could, Madeleine spoke verbatim that which had echoed within me, the phrase that was the foundation of my internal motivation. We would not go, because we came here for this planet. At that moment, all the intuition that Madeleine was my true partner became concrete.
Internal motivation may be the strength of purpose, but togetherness is its breath. It has carried us through months of doubt and the grimness of our current reality. Togetherness never tires. It is a warm hand on the shoulder to remind us that we are not at odds with the world around us.
