Let's Chat About Sustainability

Before you get concerned, this isn't me trying to judge or guilt anyone. This is something I think is important and have a lot of thoughts and feelings about, so I just like writing about it. And so I'm going to, because this is something I get excited about. This something, of course, being sustainability. Ooh, yeah, that scary word with all the tree-huggers and smelly products and whatnot . . .

Well, not so much. At least not in my experiences.

You see, to me, sustainability is not just about food or textiles or planetary betterment. It's a mindset and it's about the individual person just as much as it's about their choices and surroundings and consumption. In another post, I talked about something I do for my own mental health. So today, our sustainability topic is in regards to a mental shift.

For me, a lot of my interest in sustainability came from a desire to not feel exhausted by life. I am a big believer in having a lifestyle and thought processes and other choices that you can continue to make and live out in perpetuity. (That's not to say that I don't understand or even have seasons of life where you know things aren't for the long-run. But overall - to the best of my ability - I try to make decisions that I can stand by even once I've outgrown a place, situation, or frame of mind.)

I've always been someone who wants to use every scrap of a thing, who tries to hand make everything whether that's a good idea or not, and who romanticized eras of ingenuity born of need and struggle. I was more mentally disciplined and kept my entertainment and other cerebral intake at a steady pace so as not to become exhausted. But as I became an adult, I had gotten away from that a bit. I was consuming things at a rate that I'm not proud of today, but then I read this book about self-discipline. It wasn't a great book and wasn't even particularly helpful aside from one bit of wisdom: Choose better.

It mentioned this thing about the human brain that makes a scary amount of sense. You see, we all struggle somewhat with making decisions at some point in our lives. And typically, as a the day wears on, we're more likely to make less than stellar choices. This is because we are inundated with both conscious and unconscious decisions that need to be made, and our brains get tired of this. We become mentally exhausted to the point that we will agree to things that we normally wouldn't just so the options will go away. Yes, even if it's just small choices. The import of the options doesn't actually matter that much - it's the amount that weighs most heavy.

That made a startling amount of sense to me. So I decided to try it out: Reduce some of my options and see if I started making better decisions. I started with my wardrobe. I got rid of anything in my closet that wasn't white, grey, black, dark red, army green, or blue. Since it was easier to get dressed when I didn't really have to worry about clashing/matching, I was pretty happy. I was getting ready quickly even when getting dressed for events that would normally have had me hemming and hawing. I eventually cut down on even more of the color in my clothing and how much clothing I have.

This concept worked for me really well. I was feeling so much better and even less stressed just from cutting down on a couple of morning decisions. From there, I kept trying to reduce my choices, form habits that wouldn't take much decision-making, and otherwise see what I could do to make my routines and daily life more sustainable.

By choosing less, I am able to choose better.

I still try to find and practice these mentally and emotionally sustainable things, but I've also become very interested in more typical/practical applications for this. But that'll be for another post . . .