Losing Passion for "Zero Waste" / Sustainable Living?
Changing your entire lifestyle can feel super exciting in the beginning. You get that high of "oh wow, I'm completely changing my life, I'm aligning my beliefs and my actions, I'm doing something positive for the planet and my own mental health. This is great!" ....And then a major roadblock comes and you get a shot to your chest. You start questioning why you're making things hard for yourself and why you can't just "go back" to the easy way to do things. Or the minute something that's working for someone else doesn't work for you, and you don't know what other solutions there are, your hopes and dreams for this "new lifestyle" thing get a bit crushed.
And depending on how stubborn you are, there are only so many of those instances you can take before you're just like "well, this isn't fun anymore....."
Hey, I've been there! I still struggle with this all the time! I feel like I teeter between the idea of saying "nah, i'm done with it all" and "I'm just going to do this thing my own way" and "I feel like I can go more hardcore than I am now, let's do this thing!" multiple times a day. So you're definitely not alone.
It's natural to feel that way! I'm still figuring out exactly how this all will play out... but that's just it, it's going to play out. Because your impact is about SO much more than the momentary change you're making TODAY. It's about the impact your ENTIRE life will make in it's LIFETIME.
The small changes you make that save emissions or plastic waste.
The number of people you impact with your words.
The number of times you've reached out to a company or to your legislature to change something they're doing.
The number of items you get secondhand.
The number of problems you solve via up-cycling something old.
The number of unnecessary things you talk yourself out of buying.
The number of times you walk or bike to work instead of taking your car.
The number of plant based meals you make as opposed to ones made with animal ingredients. (spoiler alert, it doesn't have to be every one, if that's not a commitment you can make just yet!)
The number of flights you turn down to explore something in your local area instead.
It's about the long term. The reduced total footprint you make in your LIFETIME.
It ALL makes a difference, even if you don't feel like it's doing much.
So all I can say is, whatever you need to do to keep the balance between not giving up, continuing to make changes and keeping your mental health in tact, GO FOR IT BABY!
It doesn't need to look like someone else's journey. The products you use don't need to be the same as someone else's. The number of trash items in your "jar" don't have to be the same (not that I'm a fan of that trash jar craze anyways). AND not only that, but we don't know where you'll be 5 years or 10 years from now! It might not feel like you're making a huge difference NOW, but if you don't give up, and you actively continue to look for new solutions that fit YOUR life, your carbon and waste impact on the planet is only going to get smaller and smaller.
YOU'VE GOT THIS! Don't stress about it, babe. x
