So... you know how when people are on a diet and sometimes they have "cheat days" in which they throw all their hard work out the window? Yea... that happened. However, instead of it lasting a day, it lasted the whole week.
Am I disappointed? DUH! I was on a role! I was doing it! You saw the photos! To be honest, I was really tired of having to plan out everything I was doing, but that might be caused by my teenage laziness rather than me not wanting to save the planet.
I threw away a lot of things this week and most of it was candy wrappers, I mean the holidays are coming up. Christmas is going to be a mess. I suggested doing a zero waste Christmas at my house cause, in reality, it probably wouldn't be that hard, but my dad started teasing me and I lost motivation. So... I think that made me think that being zero waste didn't matter as much, so I started throwing more away. I have to keep reminding myself that it DOES make a difference!
I did do some research about things that were recyclable and turns out there are a LOT of things I've been throwing away that definitely could have been recycled. For example, in my last blog post, The Water Spotter commented that foil actually is recyclable! I had no idea. I also found out plastic wrap was recyclable. This was actually very helpful because now I don't have to limit my options so much! I guess I really need to learn more about... everything.
I think that if the project were to end today, I could maintain being zero waste. It was very easy to start throwing stuff away, but now that I know that there are more options for zero waste people than I realized, with some more research I think it could get to a point where I'm able to keep up.
But this is like hard. It's easy, but it's hard to make it a habit. So what goes into making a habit and how long does it take?
I read an article by James Clear, a behavioral psychologist, who dove deep into how long it actually takes to form a habit. The most common misconception about habits is that they form in 21 days. I found out that it's not true at all! Clear writes that it takes "anywhere from two months to eight months to build a new behavior into your life..." (1).
So turns out this is perfectly normal and it might take me some time to actually turn this into a consistent thing. This article made me feel less bad about my "cheat week", but obviously I want to try a little harder. That's what it's all about, right?
It's important to realize that change does not happen in a night, or even a week, sometimes months. It takes a lot of motivation and you have to remind yourself why you want to change. So I'm going to keep in mind exactly why I'm doing this as I move into the next week.
LINKS
(1) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BKF8f_-HXrLnVvWLN72AAbwHM5eTivL0AqfLE1xsx68/edit
LINKS
(1) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BKF8f_-HXrLnVvWLN72AAbwHM5eTivL0AqfLE1xsx68/edit
Once your cheat weak was up did you find yourself getting back into you goal of zero waste? Or did you find it harder after you had the week to become used to throwing stuff away.
ReplyDeleteYea! It def was difficult and I'll admit that I threw some stuff away, but it was manageable and I was more aware of it. I have noticed that in general I've been throwing stuff away a lot less often.
DeleteI agree with it being hard but also easy, I think over break I kind of got into that same head space as well. But I'm glad you want to try harder!
ReplyDeleteThanks! You keep at it too!
DeleteWhy does finding out that things are recyclable motivate you? What is the hardest thing about trying to make zero waste a priority? Is it changing your thinking or the actual amount of waste that is produced that you don't know what to do with?
ReplyDeleteFinding more recyclable products is awesome because I know that it'll be reused in some way and won't be sent to a landfills which are BIG contributors to pollution. I think the hardest thing about being zero waste is just all the planing and watching what your getting at the grocery store, it takes way more time to buy food now, but it's worth it. I like to think that it's changing both the way I think as well as how much waste I'm actually producing. I hope so anyway!
DeleteI think it is awesome that you are learning about new things that can be recycled and composted as I have also gone through this at work and found out that SOOOOOOO much doesn't need to go in the trash. I think it could be cool if every week you did a little highlight on something new you found was recyclable/ compostable.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I don't think we could get everyone to adopt this habit. I don't think we could even get most people to adopt it.
ReplyDeleteHOWEVER, I do think we could get a lot of people to reduce their waste. Do you know any easy examples of this? How much waste would each example save?
I agree, this is something that def takes a LOT of willpower, but anything helps yanno? Just by bringing your own bags to the store helps out the environment, so small things do help! Check out this resource on easy ways to be more zero waste even if your store doesn't have bulk options:
Deletehttps://zerowastenerd.com/how-to-shop-zero-waste-at-wal-mart
i noticed that there were a LOT of people that slipped up recently/over break. Do you have any ideas why? also, nice use of that source. the author also mentioned that a few slip-ups every once in a while is virtually harmless. i almost feel like if the behavior you're trying to adapt is too much to handle, slip-ups are almost an essential.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I def tried to jump into it too quickly and didn't think about how realistic it was for me. And that's probably why I slipped up (which was way more realistic).
DeleteSimilar to you, whenever people make comments on the decisions that I make for my Personal Impact project, there is a brief moment that you question if your actions are even worth, and it can get real easy to break the habits that you've created. I just remind myself why I'm doing what I'm doing in the first place.
ReplyDeleteWith your parents teasing you about your project how will you regain motivation?
ReplyDeleteAdding on to this, changing a habit in your life that all your family still does is very hard. For instance I went vegetarian for my project but my parents still ate meat. It was very tempting to eat meat also but perseverance is key.
DeleteThis is such an ambitious commitment! Do you think you'll continue after the project ends?
ReplyDeleteI hope so? But no promises :(
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