A Sustainable Mindset
Is your life sustainable?
For yourself?
Your family?
Your finances?
The planet?
There are areas that I’ve been working on to help preserve resources in my life; financial, personal, and ecological. Now that I am a parent, I think about the future in a new way. A future for my son, conscious habits to instill in myself and my household. I am much more invested in what I can do now to make my time earth side more meaningful. Legacy isn’t some distant dream, it’s happening right in this moment. When they say that children make you better this is why.
I want to live long, love long, and for the planet to allow us to do so. I’ve found that wholesome approaches are all around wins, with more gains, and the bonus of learning and sharing experiences. Sustainability doesn’t only pertain to eco-friendly concepts. I’m thinking about practices in my life that support health and longevity. Practices that take time and thought, but will inevitably become second nature. It’s not all composting and saving veggie scraps!
Here are my top sustainable practices that will save you money, highlight health, and inspire a community of like minded loved ones!
Take care of your things! It is so easy to lean towards throwing something away and buying new, but can it be mended? Recently we almost threw out a slew of books that Kingston had nearly destroyed, but they were his favorites. I was so sick of looking at pages hanging off, collected them all over the house, intending to fix them, never getting to it. One day we got so fed up we had an intense ER book mending session. Everyone got involved - it took only 20 minutes and we gave King’s favorite books a second life. Now, buying new books is actually at the bottom of my to-do list, saving us money! My lesson, what can you do now to make it better before discarding an object? It requires a mindset shift. Does something have to be aesthetically perfect for it to hold value? Not for Kingston, he is teaching us that. How can it gain a second life? Even if that means donating it.
Learn to make your own, DIY household and beauty products! I NEVER buy store brought cleaners anymore and my wallet loves me for it. This month I made powerful cleaning sprays by soaking citrus in vinegar for a couple of weeks and adding them to my regular regiment of dish soap & water in a spray bottle. I add essential oils of my choosing and feel so much better about creating a non-toxic environment for Kingston. Why would I pay $7,$8,$9 for the same ingredients in my cabinet just mixed with chemicals? PLUS, there is nothing more pleasing than the minimalist look of a glass bottle with an editorial label, that I also made! Long ago I thought baking soda and vinegar were not powerful enough to clean with. I learned - the more you clean, the less you actually have to clean. What I mean is, the messes aren’t so big, deep, set in. Frequency over labor. This goes hand in hand with take care of your things. I want my belongings to last: my dollars, my health, my household. Building a home with these habits will be so beneficial to our future.
Lil Hack: We use natural products like coconut oil for our skin as well as cooking and then wash and reuse the jars! By repeating this process, we have a bunch of uniform mason jars - which alleviates my urge to purchase “nicer” glasses. We use them for drinking, food storage, to go containers, you name it! We are saving on skin care, glassware, and keeping bottles from landfills!
Change your mindset! This should really be number one. I could tell you to carry reusable bags and compost your scraps but the truth is - with a mindset shift you will find your own sustainable practices that match your lifestyle. I had to look to my values rather than my habits to get started. It began with conscious thoughts… reading labels, thinking about time and money differently. I can take five minutes to put these ingredients together. I can make the effort to clean and reuse this jar. I will slowly accumulate what I need with these practices. I don’t need to spend money at this time. Sustainability for me is about utilizing my current resources before I purchase more. It is about abandoning my lust for perfectionism and considering a larger concept of doing more good for self and less harm to our planet and ecosystem.
If you’re not there yet, keep intending to be. At one time I held these values but my consumer mindset kept me from taking action. I learned that I can create the things I desire by educating myself and learning through practice. I am making mindful purchases, finding community that encourage consciousness and really taking stock of my own personal footprint. I think about my own longevity and lean towards practices that support my wellbeing; yoga, breath work, spiritual learning. These are the ways that sustain my health instead of deplete it. These are the ways in which I can truly give back, to my family, my self, the world.
Peace,
Khadija
