One foot in front of the other
Recently I made a new friend - a young woman with a shared need to save the environment. We had a short "chat" on Facebook yesterday - she was feeling frustrated, as we all do from time to time. Her frustration stemmed from not doing "enough" environmentally.
As a woman in her early twenties with a one-year-old and a full time job, this precious soul doesn't have a lot of time. She wants to change everything she does right now, but she is bound by her finances, time and relationships. Nonetheless, she feels like she's failing because she tried to do too much at once.
I understand her frustration. As soon as you know better, you want to do better. But one simply cannot change everything at once. Even wanting to make so many changes can cause one to be overwhelmed and subsequently block the action that needs to be taken. We've all been so overwhelmed that we couldn't get started on a project. It's the same with making environmental changes in your life. It's overwhelming. Much the same as the environmental future it looks like we're facing. It's all too much. Sometimes it's easier to just stay in your comfortable groove and not make ANY changes.
My advice to her was this:
As a woman in her early twenties with a one-year-old and a full time job, this precious soul doesn't have a lot of time. She wants to change everything she does right now, but she is bound by her finances, time and relationships. Nonetheless, she feels like she's failing because she tried to do too much at once.
I understand her frustration. As soon as you know better, you want to do better. But one simply cannot change everything at once. Even wanting to make so many changes can cause one to be overwhelmed and subsequently block the action that needs to be taken. We've all been so overwhelmed that we couldn't get started on a project. It's the same with making environmental changes in your life. It's overwhelming. Much the same as the environmental future it looks like we're facing. It's all too much. Sometimes it's easier to just stay in your comfortable groove and not make ANY changes.
My advice to her was this:
"Yes. And I went through that, too. But I realized along the way that you CAN'T do it all at once. You HAVE to do it one step at a time, and when you look back on it, you will have made big strides. If you beat up on yourself, you'll have less energy to make the small changes. I'm at the point now where people are impressed with what I've done, but it's taken 15 years."
One small step at a time, folks. Do one new thing a day, or a week, or a month. But do SOMETHING. It will make a difference in the long run.
Yes, you are absolutely right. I went through the same thing many years ago when I began to be aware of the conventional food system & its relationship to disease and environmental degradation. It was overwhelming, b/c I wanted to change everything at once for my family in terms of how we eat. But honestly, it has taken about 7 years to get where we are now, and we are still on the road to where we want to be. One small step at a time, and make sure to give weight & value to just being consciously aware. Thanks for the post!!
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