Feel like I’ve been going through this gradual attitude change over the past 6 months, and it really comes down to the fact I’ve realised I’m not personally responsible for saving the planet.
Do I want to grow the trees, clean the seas, and save the bees? Fuck yes. Who wouldn’t?
But I can’t do any of that when I’m feeling shite, and there’s a whole bunch of non-enforced ‘rules’ that shame us about what we buy, how we travel, what we eat and how it all impacts the planet.
When the world is this shite, you just have to do what you need to to survive.
This doesn’t affect me personally but a great example is plastic straws. Folk getting high and mighty about plastic straws? Fuck them - some people need plastic straws.
Oh, you don’t recycle or donate everything to charity? Fuck off. It’s taking up room in my house, I don’t have the energy or time at the moment. It’s getting binned.
If the likes of Elon Musk and Kim Kardashian can charter private jets for flights under 30 minutes, I’m nowhere near as responsible as they are.
I’m rambling now but this post is a mix of ‘fuck capitalism and businesses that pass the blame onto individual consumers’ and ‘Sometimes I don’t have the energy to do all the typically *nice and proper* things’ and that’s alright.
Sorry, need to get thoughts out my skull.
I’m not saying recycling or donating old stuff to charity isn’t good or important. But there’s a weird view where we take everyone’s individual actions as having sweeping impact on the global community.
Someone not recycling for a week or a month is the equivalent of a fart in a hurricane to global environmental efforts. If someone only has the energy to either recycle or to take their medicine every morning - they should park their recycling efforts and take their medicine.
I’d rather someone goes through 50 plastic straws a week, if it means they stay hydrated.
Just feel that there’s so many weird, minor societal expectations that are sculpting individual behaviours in a way that makes them less functional as people.
Do what makes you function.
“But AyeforScotland, what if what makes them function is alcohol or cigarettes?”
Then do it. That’s not saying either are particularly good, but there’s also a reason going cold turkey often results in the person relapsing.
If having a cigarette relaxes you enough that you can do a whole bunch of other self-care tasks then do it. You might want to stop smoking for whatever reason, but if stopping outright makes you stop doing everything else you need to do then maybe you can ease into it a bit more.
Right, I’m almost sure I’m done now. Cheers.
From how to keep house while drowning, by KC Davis. The whole book is honestly revelatory, but I come back to this bit a lot
I’ve literally just started reading that on the recommendation of @thebibliosphere! Really love the way she writes and there’s a ton of game-changing perspective.
