I don’t have cable TV and I recently unfollowed all of the daily news feeds I signed up for. The constant “bing” when Trump said this or did that just annoyed me including the rest of the news actually. It made me either angry, sad or depressed followed by a somewhat helpless annoying feeling.
Society tells me to “be myself” but what they really mean and add in fine print is “No, not like that!” I have to fit in and somewhat accept what government and politics decide for me. I do not want to sound completely pessimistic, but if things continue the way they do, this earth is going to be completely destroyed rather sooner than later. The question I ask myself is, if I can do something to stop it all but I quickly found the answer: “Not really!” I don’t think anybody out there who is doing politics or is in charge of major political decisions gives a crap about me as person and what I think or have to say. It seems that they also don’t care about this earth either or protests and protesters. Unfortunately, many are still fooled by political propaganda or seemingly “good” PR and do not see outside the box and what is really going on. Human rights? Yeah, “right”!
Unfortunately, being educated and conscious only gets me so far. I care about our future, about the earth and of course my family and son. How can I make little changes to make this world a little better? For one, I can write and put my thoughts out there besides making some changes in my life. Sometimes it is just baby steps, but better those than nothing since I am aware that I alone cannot change anything major on the governmental or political level. And there are a lot of changes that need to be made I reckon. Changes start for me at home. Nothing and nobody is perfect and I believe that it is does not have to be like “all or nothing”. As I said, little steps in the right direction is sometimes all it takes.
I want to share some food for thought today on what I do to make this earth a little better. I try to buy organic and local food at the farmers market as much as I can. Whatever is in season; nobody needs strawberries or tomatoes in winter – it does not even taste good. Every time I go to the supermarket and buy food, I make the choice and decide what world I want to live in and what I want to put in my body to nourish it.
I pay attention to the ingredients in the products I purchase by opting for clean and natural things (food, hygiene and cleaning products). I try to avoid processed sugar whenever I can and use natural alternatives like dates, bananas and such for sugar cravings. Or I make my own chocolate.
I also try to pay attention to what type of clothing I wear. Since I am into Minimalism, I do not own that many clothes and opt for quality over quantity. (Second Hand clothing, local designers etc.) Of course I cannot stop the production of cheap clothing that are produced in developing third world countries where workers are exploited daily. But I can make the choice not to buy it because I don’t want to (1) support this madness and (2) be exposed to these cancer causing pesticides that go in our soil, food, clothing, streams and so much more. Overall, I want to buy smarter and less simply because I don’t need that much. If I buy less, there is also less demand. What happens when people stop buying certain things in stores? They disappear eventually from the shelves. Sustainability is important too. I want items to last, rather than to throw them away after one time use. I try to make smart, conscious choices and ask myself the same question with every single item I put in my cart in the store: “Do I really need this? Does this add value to my life?” (This is the Mari Kondo concept!)
I know I have to work with and not against nature and I make sure I teach my son all this already. Cannot hurt, right? So we do whatever we can when we can. Take shopping bags from home, rather than using plastic bags. Little things because our government won’t make the changes we so desperately need.
