It's January 8th and I am just getting around to writing my New Year's entry. I also haven't taken down my Christmas decorations or begun any of my New Year's resolutions. It's a clue. My goal for this year is to get my eating habits and food choices under control...you see where I'm going with this? I just don't want to get started. I don't want to write about it because then you'll know I'm fat and I'll HAVE to do something about it. I hate doing stuff I don't want to...augh!
To help me in my quest for green and healthier living, I've signed up for a class at the Indian Creek Nature Center called "Voluntary Simplicity." It's a discussion group focused on exploring how our lives can be enriched by simplicity, to set goals and offer support to each other. Fifty people signed up for this class...I thought that was amazing and a true indicator that I'm not the only one who wants to continue finding ways to make peace with materialism and adopt a wholistic, healthy approach to all aspects of my life. Change is possible and change is good.
At least I can look back on the last year and a half and take solace in the evidence that I can change. In the last year I've started making my own laundry soap, hanging my clothes on the line, cut my electric bill in half, bought a smartcar, make my own bread with local organic grains, adopted some chickens and began composting and organic gardening. We managed to get through the year without credit card debt and more money in the bank...and that's with my daughter's wedding thrown in! It's been a productive and enlightening year. I've also developed friendships with other folks that also want to make a difference by simply living their daily lives in a healthful way...
One of the first readings for our class is "Living Deeply" by Janet Luhrs. She writes about when she first began voluntary simplicity and how difficult it was to describe to others. She finally realized that living simply is about living deliberately. "That's all. You choose your existence rather than sailing through life on automatic pilot. Your existence can be in the woods, in the city, as a carpet clener, a doctor, an office manager, a retired person, a single person, a parent of six, a person in his 20s, a person in her 80s. You could have any level of income, but you hang on to a good chunk of your income, whatever it is. Simple living is about having money in the bank and a zero balance on your credit card statement." Janet Luhrs
I'm looking forward to living more deliberately in the next decade - including food choices and regular excercise (ouch!) I think there might be hope for this eat when your happy, sad, depressed, elated, stressed, relaxed type of person. I sure hope so.
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