YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING PERFECTLY

The other day I met up with Johanne and Emma and had a little chat about how living more sustainably should not be about being perfect at everything, and that it is much more important for others to see that you are also in a process and working on things and in that way are much more relatable to others, than if you were the perfect example of something. No one is perfect, we all struggle with things and we should not beat ourselves up about it, that won't help anyone.

 If you strive so much to be perfect that you end up burning out mentally, then this will do not good at all because eventually you might just give up on everything and that is no good. So don't be so hard on yourself.You might want to live more sustainable (which is awesome!), but take your time and make it a slow process. Habits needs to change and that just takes time. You might also have started with something but have went back to your old habits - no worries, that doesn't mean that you have failed. You can just start trying again once you are ready.

Here are some of my back and forth processes

1. The shampoo bar

   I had been using the shampoo bar for a couple of months and then went on a skiing trip with my boyfriend and his family, and to be honest I was just so tired and exhausted that I just didn't bother to wash my hair with the shampoo bar at the holiday and I ended up using my boyfriends shampoo and have been since. I want to get back to the shampoo bar again, but I have honestly just been too lazy and busy with a lot of other things lately, but I for sure want to start using it again.

2. Toothpaste

   For a while I made my own toothpaste, but I am currently being way too confused about oral hygiene and whether or not to use fluorid etc. and I really want to take good care of my teeth, so I have (for now) returned to a plastic packaging toothpaste. If any of you have awesome recommendations for toothpaste in glass jars or anything like that, please let me know!

3. I still buy groceries in plastic packaging

   More than anything I wish I lived next door to LØS market and could buy all my food there without having to worry about plastic packaging, but I just live too far away for it to make sense to go there for every time I need to buy groceries. Whenever possible I will always strive for the plastic free option where I am, but that is the current reality. However I'm extremely happy about seeing more and more cardboard alternatives to plastic in supermarkets, fx Fakta now has rice in cardboard packaging instead of plastic packaging, so I always buy rice there.

Etc. I might have several other things that I have gone back and forth with. But what I wanted to say with this is that we should not beat ourselves up about not doing everything perfectly. Take your time, and be okay with going back and forth. It is a process, and it takes time. And sometimes you try something which does not work for you, and that is okay, then try to search for other alternatives or ways to do things.You might have heard about the saying "you teach best what you most need to learn"? That is so true for me with this post, because I have certainly been guilty of beating myself up a bit (mentally) because I have gone back to some old habits. So this blog post is just as much a reminder to myself not to blame myself so much. I know that I still want to change things and strive for living more sustainably, but I don't want to spend all my time worrying and stressing about it. I will much rather have fun with it! 

Do you know the feeling? Have you also gone back and forth between some old habits as well?