My Willing Struggle

We just came home from a road trip around Scotland and our fridge was empty. So this morning, I had to head for the grocery store with K and N while Q spent time in the library catching up on his dissertation. We actually have three other grocery stores nearer to our place, two being in the same building as us... but we rarely buy anything from them as 90% of their food is wrapped in some kind of packaging. Instead, we often choose to do our weekly shop at a store about a 15 minute walk away because they have a wider variety of unpackaged produce. The kids enjoy choosing the fruit and veg, filling the bags and pushing the basket around.

Street food bought in our reusable food pouch. Took us 10 months to try it because it took us 10 months to work up the courage to ask if we could use our own containers 😅

On our way back, N decided that the walk was too far. So he stared to complain: 'Why do we have to walk SO FAR! I don't want to walk.' x1000 times. During whole performance that included dragging his feet, he tripped on his own feet and fell face first onto the pavement. Of course that escalated things and the complaining turned into loud wails of pain and distress. I picked him up, dusted him off and waited for him to calm down a little before continuing our journey with his hand in mine. He continued to wail as we walked as I tried to look confident and unswayed by the stares of other pedestrians. As the heavy grocery bag dug into my shoulder, I thought about how I could have avoided all this hassle if I had just bought my groceries from the nearby shops. That led me to think about all the hassle we go through every single day, bringing our own cutlery, containers, reusable wipes, water bottles... How we actually wait to buy things now because we try our best to find them in the charity and thrift shops or get them second hand on fb marketplace instead of just popping into the shops to get them. How we changed our diet so that we could reduce our carbon footprint by eating less meat, drinking less cow's milk and never buy fruit and veg that are packaged. How we choose places to eat based on whether or not they use disposables, often forgoing it if the store uses disposables.

N happy to be home and looking forward to his promise of fruit.

Then I thought about why we do it all, about how it all started with the simple desire to live a life that was less damaging to the earth. Sure, it would save me the half an hour walk there and back but then I would also be generating so much more plastic waste each week. That waste would survive on this earth longer than I and maybe even my children would. We may have a lighter and less bulky bag if we didn't pack our cutlery and containers and bottles but every time we head out would mean another bag of waste generated just from one meal or even a quick snack. We would be one of the many people just mindlessly filling up the trash cans. Using our own containers and cutlery when buying food means that we get to enjoy it AND feel good because we aren't having to throw something away after the 10 minutes it takes us to eat it. The changes we have made in our lives have also changed the mindset of our kids. They now look for forks and spoons in our bag rather than at the counters of food stores, they check to make sure if the item is wrapped in unnecessary packaging before considering if they would like to buy it. Shopping at thrift and charity shops have taught us that a lot of what we want is actually not necessary. I can't count the number of times I went into a charity shop thinking 'I need to find _____' and have not been able to find it, then later realise I have been able to live without it for months and actually don't need it any more. It has also taught the kids to wait indefinitely for things they want instead of just buying everything that catches their eye. It also causes them to treasure their finds so much more, and even if they lose interest in their finds after a while, it goes back to the charity shop they got it from for another child to enjoy. Avoiding packaging also means that we eat more fruit and vegetables and eat less processed food which deifinitely helps our health (and waistline). Snacking now also often means fruit rather than crisps and chocolates, although I still do enjoy the occasional chocolate 😛. While trying to do good for the earth, it has also changed us for the better.

K finally found a bracelet that fit her in the thrift store after months of looking.

No matter how far we are in our journey to being eco-friendly, we will always struggle as we work against our natural human tendency to favour convenience over all else. I question myself every time I find myself in an uncomfortable situation, and every time I chose the harder way in order to be eco friendly and did not get an instant reward for my choice. I struggle every single day as I choose to walk away from comfort and convenience, yet see bins overflowing with disposable single use packaging and question if my actions even make any impact. But at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is the impact I am having on my own life and the life of my children. I will willingly struggle every day in the hope that K and N will grow up with a different norm from my generation. Where cheap and easy won't be the qualities they base their decisions on, and that their natural tendency will be mindfulness toward how their actions and choices impact the lives of others around them and the world they live in.