Don’t Live ECO for the planet. Live ECO for you.

Don’t Live ECO for the planet. Live ECO for you.

For some of us, we consider ourselves to be ‘eco-warriors’, fighting for the good of the planet; standing up for nature and an earth that can’t defend itself. But most of us don’t consider the planet when we make our everyday decisions.

And that’s fine!

For the vast majority of people, we’re interesting in living a life that is happy, comfortable, and full of people we love. And we don’t think much past that. We have enough to worry about in our own lives without taking on the worries of the entire planet earth, right? Life is hard enough. Why bring the earth’s problems into our lives every step of the way?

Allow me to tell you a story. (And no, it’s not about me saving the environment/world/etc)

My daughter wanted a dog.

3 years ago, my daughter wanted to get a dog. She started asking us every day, making all the usual promises: she’s going to feed it. She’s going to walk it. She’s going to give it all the baths it needs. She was going to give the world to this dog.

I’m not against having a dog. In fact, I love animals. But I also recognize that they take a lot of money, time, and effort to care for. So when my wife asked me what I thought about getting one I told her my thoughts: it’s fine, but we have to be prepared for the eventuality that she may, in fact, not do as she says and we will have to do all the work. Internally, I have to admit I was partially hoping we didn’t get the dog. I was going to end up having to feed it. I was going to end up having to walk it. I was going to end up giving it baths. And I don’t have time for that. I’m busy enough.

So 2 weeks later, we got a dog.

We got a now-small-but-soon-to-be-very-large golden retriever. And 6 months pass and guess what happened. Hint: it wasn’t what I was expecting.

…

Did you guess?

…

I walk the dog. I feed the dog (most of the time). I give the dog her baths.

Oh. Not surprised? Ah, that’s because that’s not the surprising part. The surprising part came in how I felt: because of the dog, I started waking up at a more regular time (or rather, started being woken up at a more regular time), I started exercising more as we went on daily walks, I connected with my family more through us bonding over the dog.

My life got “harder”, but my life got better. And now if you were to ask me “Would you change getting a dog if you could?” my answer would be no, I prefer life with the dog. I thought my life would be more difficult. It wasn’t. Instead, it became more fulfilled. I thought I would have less time for my family, now I spend more.

The reason I put “harder” in quotes is because yes, I gained things I have to do every day, but they very quickly just became my ‘new normal.’ It’s not hard to do anymore. And my life is better. It’s happier. It’s healthier. It’s more fulfilling.

Change will lead you to find unexpected ‘good’

The same has been so for my environmental challenges as well: even recognizing that I love the environment and nature, taking on every challenge has felt like a sacrifice, like I’m losing something from my life. But with every challenge I take on, it’s hard at the beginning, but very quickly I find a ‘new normal.’ I end up learning things I didn’t expect to, and my life gets better in unexpected ways.

I didn’t think picking up trash every day would make my life better. I just figured it would clean up the park and the street. But what I found is that as my regular dog-walking route became cleaner, and the park that I regularly take my dog to became cleaner, and my neighborhood started to feel like mine. I started to feel a new appreciation and love for my neighborhood. It became my neighborhood, a feeling I never felt before. Now, I can’t imagine passing a piece of trash without picking it up. Not in my neighborhood.

Give change a try.

Maybe you don’t particularly care about living a life that is good for the planet. And I’m not going to tell you to. But I would venture a guess: if you pay attention to the world around you, you’ll find small things to change. And if you can muster up the courage to just try making a change, I venture a guess that you will find new, unexpected good things happen.

And if they don’t? Fine, you don’t have to do it anymore. But you’ll never know whether you would’ve liked it or not unless you try.

And…If you value nature, you can try making your change an ECO change.

Again, I won’t tell you to change your life for the environment. But if you do, you may find some benefits you didn’t expect. Things like a life that is:

• happier
• healthier
• simpler
• more balanced
• less stressful
• more meaningful and fulfilling
• more connected to the people around you
• …and maybe just a little better for the environment.

If you’re interesting in learning more about how to life a better life by living ECO, be sure to subscribe to my blog and YouTube channel for all the tips, news, thoughts, and info you need to make the change!