A Comment On Spending Habits – Please Read

Some of the things we value in America are absolutely ridiculous. It seems as if most people would rather spend money “faking” health and beauty than actually creating it inside themselves.

I’ve been there, done that.  I’ve spent money on countless beauty products, hair dyes, outfits, and all the other cosmetic products people use on a daily basis. But is that really what we need to be spending money on?

Do you REALLY need your nails done all the time, or that fake tan that’s slowly ruining your skin? Do you need that Gucci purse, or that $50,000 car? NO! What is life about? Being happy, helping others, living every day to the fullest, and being healthy while doing so.

Why are so many people sick, depressed, and feeling hopeless? I believe it’s because we have strayed away from what life actually is. We are more focused on chasing the “next dollar” than we are on our own health and happiness… Money is essential in this day and age, but if we spent a little less time thinking about money and spending beyond our means – maybe the day to day life wouldn’t seem as stressful. If we lived more within our means, we could spend more time with family, friends, and ultimately on our own health and happiness.

We are so focused on making money and working that the things which mean the most are on the back burner. “Mommy, why are you and daddy always working?” “Because honey, we have all these nice things – and they make us happy.” NOT! Spending time with each other, out in nature, eating food you’ve grown, THAT’S happiness.

We are so disconnected from our roots – but luckily I feel as if things are changing. More and more folks are realizing that they are working themselves to death – and have lost track of what it means to LIVE.

People have a choice- they can go down the path of debt, being highly medicated, fat, and depressed… Or they can realize that what we are doing ISNT WORKING – and start to make changes to their lives… Stop spending so much time watching TV and go outside and play with the kids. Go home an hour early from work to cook a healthy and nutritious dinner for your family, whose your life line. Money “makes the world go around,” but I truly believe that you cannot buy happiness. Happiness is what is within you, and what you choose to surround yourself with.

Definitely Worth Thinking About….

I had a random thought pop into my head today, and although it was random – it was rather profound. I began to think about how societal views and health correlate. I thought about how each day, it seems to get harder and more expensive to be healthy. But then I noticed a speed bump in the road along our paths for a better, more fulfilled life.

Currently, we are living in a country where so many useless and usually unhealthy addictions dictate our lives. It seems as though these things have taken precedence over our own health and quality of life. Why has our population become completely consumed by alcohol, tobacco, and other substances that are poison to our bodies. Take cigarettes as an example; they dramatically increase our chance of heart attack, stroke, cancer, and degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. They are responsible for around 480,000 deaths a year. That’s 1,300 people A DAY! Smokers die an average of 10 years earlier than people who don’t smoke (link is here.) Smoking is one of the worst things a person can do for their health, and the health of others around them… People spend thousands of dollars a year on products that increase their chance of disease and pre-mature death; and then they say healthy eating is too expensive. If a person smokes a pack a day at $5  a pop they end up spending around $1800 on cigarettes a year. Want to know what is in 5 years? An estimated $9000! The amount of money people spend on things as dangerous as cigarettes could be used in many different ways… Such as building a garden, buying organic, and o getting a gym membership. It could also be used for vacations, and stress relieving activities. (Check this article out!)

Life would seem less “expensive” if we cut more of the unnecessary things out (Great Stats about our Waste)… Saving money that way and having the option to purchase organic food, go to the gym, and feel like a new person by eliminating the constant attack of the poison inside cigarettes, alcohol, prescription drugs, and other things polluting your body.

Change your Mind, Change your Life

Why We Should Work Towards Sustainability

There comes a point, in everyones life, when they need to take a step back and look at what they have done and what they are currently doing. Well that time folks, for everyone, is NOW. Most of us may not realize it but we are at a very critical point in the history of mankind. We can choose to continue doing what we are, and run our environment into the ground; or we can choose to dramatically change the way we think and act. We have the power to begin today, to change the future of our planet – and the future of the human race. All we need to do is come together and think about our existence in a new way… Or in an “old” way, I should say.

Lets develop a perspective that could literally change the fate of mankind(Definitely a link worth visiting.) We have to start making larger strides towards not only renewable and clean energy supplies, but also how to lessen the power demand and decrease the damage we are inflicting on our planet everyday.

Why not do a tax incentive for people to ride their bikes to work as many times a year as possible. Or turn cement parking lots and roads into solar panels that provide clean, renewable energy? (they exist!) Why cant we wrap products in less packing materials, such as plastics and cardboard – to save trees and decrease trash pollution? All of these examples are things that could be done… We just need everyone to start believing that we have a problem and a lot of stuff needs to change. If we don’t convert our over-use to under-use, we will eventually kill ourselves (more than we already are.)

As a reference,
I’ve worked in restaurants since I was 16, and up until recently I never really thought much about how much the restaurant industry contributes to food waste, and waste in general. Everyday I watch pounds and pounds of food go into the trash, many gallons of water being used up (when we are running out of clean water each day that passes by), and only a little effort into recycling 100’s of beer bottles, cardboard boxes, and limitless plastics. I’ve also started to think about how much electricity the building uses everyday, and it makes me think about the other 100’s of restaurants in my town and how many kilo-watts they use daily. When you really think about it, the restaurant and fast food industry are HUGE contributors to everyday pollution and the rapidly changing climate of our planet. I believe there is a need to focus on new ways to generate clean and renewable energy; but I have also recently stumbled upon an idea that I don’t believe many people have ever even given a thought to.

Let me take a step back and talk about the title of this post, in regards to sustainability. If each household worked towards becoming more sustainable, we would easily lessen our dependence on “outside” sources, such as grocery stores and restaurants. Let’s grow our own food, use fires for heat, and turn off the lights whenever we aren’t in a room. Lets spend more time in nature, and less time on electronics- which use a lot of electricity. Lets learn simple things, like unplugging things we aren’t using and composting instead of throwing everything in the trash and ultimately into the ground. Lets reconnect to our roots… Why are we so dependent on others to grow or make food for us? Why has it become the “norm” versus a every-once-and-a-while luxury? I believe our societal view has become so skewed from what it should be… I believe we all need to take a step back and think – is this right? What if zombies took over the world tomorrow, or a disease spread that killed more than half the population? Would we all die because we are ignorant and unable to feed ourselves; would we have the basic survival skills to find food or clean water? Most likely, no.

Yes, if we stopping going to restaurants as often, and cooked our own home grown versus stuff from the grocery store; some, if not most stores would probably go out of business. Many jobs would be lost, and the economy would probably fall victim to the change for a while… But we would find a way to recover. What if some of the people who cooked food for others for a living, started growing their own food and cooking it for their families instead? There are so many ways people could change their daily habits and lessen their effect on the planet; and in turn becoming healthier and happier along the way.

If we could cut out even half the restaurants and stores in our society, we could cut our energy demands dramatically. Our food demands would also lessen, because we would be growing our own and the restaurant industry wouldn’t demand as much produce. These changes could help cut our demand for meat, dairy, and mono cropping of our vegetables and fruits. We could possibly convert those lands used for the mass production of our food back to the forests they initially were. These are just some of the manyyyy ideas I have for ways we could change the future of our planet.

Are these things that could be done over night? Some of them are, some of them aren’t. My main point is, that we need to look at what we are doing and what we need to change. We need to depend less on others and more on ourselves. Let’s CARE about what we do. Let’s care about our bodies, our environment, and the future of our children and grandchildren. Our dependency on society will bite us in the ass, and I feel people are slowly beginning to realize this. We are running out of water, we are poisoning our bodies with the stuff that’s supposed to feed us and keep our bodies running, and we are destroying our planet and eventually it will fight back (as it is already.) We are a virus spreading and overwhelming the planet, and until we realize we all need to change our ways, we will continue to spiral downwards. Love yourself, love your neighbor, love your planet, and change today!

I will have more to say about all this later – these are just few of the thoughts I needed to get out and on “paper.” All I want to know is, whose with me?!