First of all, I want to make it clear that I am not some shining beacon of minimalist, vegan health, zero waste living. When you start looking into zero waste, you see all these inspirational bathrooms and kitchens and minimalist houses and the amazing pictures of people proudly holding up their mason jar with a year’s worth of trash.
That won’t be me.
For starters, my kids are at a diapering age. Even though my first-born is potty trained and I cloth diaper my 1 year old, they still wear overnight disposable diapers. I tried the cloth diapers over night, but bigger bladders plus sleeping through the night, means wetness. Call me crazy, but I hate the idea of my kids sleeping in wet, urine soaked pajamas all night. So disposables it is. (I will admit that if my first-born does NOT pee in his overnight pull-up, I reuse it.) That’s 14 diapers a week. WAY more than a mason jar.
Every single floor in my house is littered with WAY too many plastic toys. We have no intention of becoming vegan or vegetarian or minimalist in any way. We have so much junk in our house that usually when company comes over, there’s the mad scramble to hide it in the basement or in one closed off bedroom and pretend our house is clutter-free all the time. Come on, you all know what I’m talking about. I realize that we will not be perfect role models in this venture.
But we can still be role models.
I’ve realized as I’ve entered adulthood that I have a certain amount of perfectionism. Life was so much better when I lived in a state of caring only to achieve mediocrity. But now when I believe in something, I go all in whether it’s teaching struggling readers to read or trying to cut out waste. I often feel crushed if things fall short of my expectations. So it’s hard for me to accept doing anything less than perfect. Have I mentioned the words panic and anxiety yet? I currently have both of those. I feel by telling people I’m going zero waste that people will be watching me SO closely – ready to point out any waste I make and delighting in that imperfection. So I have to recognize, I will not be perfect and that may happen. My household will not be perfect. I can’t let my fear of imperfection stop me from taking any and all steps possible. Nor can I let any of these fears stop me:
- I DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR THIS!!! I work FULL TIME! I get up at 5:30, get my family ready, and go to an over-worked, under-paid, high stress job all day! I don’t get home until after 5 and I also enjoy running ridiculously long distances to help me to handle my over-worked, under-paid, high stress job. I have 2 small children who are at the snuggle and giggle stage and I don’t want to miss it! I don’t have time to be making my own food from scratch to eliminate plastic waste! (My husband keeps joking that he needs to buy me a butter churn since I’m going all pioneer.) I don’t have time to go to MULTIPLE grocery stores to acquire my food and products in its most waste-free packaging! There’s a REASON most people buy wasteful products – they’re FREAKIN’ convenient!
But then I drive around and I notice all the plastic bags stuck in trees (I counted 30+ plastic bags in fields/trees today on a 15 minute drive) and all the single use plastic drink bottles on the side of the road. And I think of the fact that organic content (think an apple core) doesn’t breakdown in a landfill. And I realize we can do better.
2. Some of my favorite products are going to be hard to replace. I like my Sonicare toothbrush. I am addicted to Burt’s Bees Pomegranate Lip Balm and literally bought 50+ tubes of it one day when it was on sale. (50 tubes that are now in a landfill.) Deodorant…I am dreading a deodorant switch. Foundation makeup too.
But then I look at this jar in my bathroom and I realize that the contents of this jar will be on Earth looooooong after I am gone, and my kids are gone, and their kids are gone…
3. Money. I am a teacher. I am underpaid. A lot of this zero waste, health-food store, plastic free stuff is expensive!
But then I think that maybe this will inspire me to be less wasteful in how I spend my money and save money in the long run. Plus, isn’t it worth paying a little more and putting in more effort to make sure the Earth is in good shape for my kids and grandkids? And the cute baby otters?
4. Putting myself out there. I’m outgoing and generally not shy. At the same time, I have anxiety and overthink things. I don’t want to be “that girl” on social media; the person pushing an agenda. Ok, that’s a lie – I totally want to push agendas because I am right about everything. 🙂 I try NOT to because everyone has to live their own life. Also, I do NOT have time to maintain a blog (see #1).
But then I think that waste is not just a ME issue, this is an US issue. And if I can inspire just one person to decline a plastic bag or buy a menstrual cup by over-sharing and being “that girl” on social media, then it is worth any embarrassment I may feel.
5. Clothes. I have plenty of clothes. I’ve actually decided I’m not going to focus on clothes this year. My goal is that if I acquire any clothes this year that they are secondhand, made of natural materials that would breakdown (so no more nylon or polyester), or support a good cause (including allowing me to run because I am in serious need of some new sports bras…pretty sure I still have sports bras from high school…(see #4)).
6. My kids and husband. I’m not saying they won’t be supportive and better off from all of this, but I also don’t want to deprive my family to the point where they resent me and become super-villains. That would suck.
7. Amazon. Cutting back on Amazon purchases. ‘Nuff said. (See inspirational portion for #3.)
Time to face the fears. The time to change is now.
The Beck Trek 