Sustainability Thoughts for Days When Life Gives you Lemons

A while ago I wrote about things you can do for the environment when you are too tired to care. Sometimes life is just too overwhelming to be able to focus on sustainability and I really get that. We cannot be all things all the time and it’s important to acknowledge that. This week I’ve been dealing with a completely different overwhelming life issue which has made me think about the idea of sustainability when you are physically unable to do much.

Life’s Unexpected Setbacks

Last week I ended up injuring myself in a way that has left me physically unable to do much. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am still very able and am in no way permanently disabled. What I am experiencing is a severe disruption to my daily life and an inability to function as I normally do.

This has been a completely unexpected reality that has made me take extended leave from work and made me ask for a lot more help than I wish I needed. I’m extremely lucky to have some lovely people in my life that have stepped up and offered assistance.

Since my normal routines and ways of life have been disrupted, it’s been difficult to maintain some of the sustainable practices that I would usually do. It’s made me think through a little bit of what I can do to continue sustainable habits in my daily life and reflect on things I’m very grateful for right now.

Sustainability Thoughts for When Life is Less than Normal

Since life is less than normal for me, I cannot sit for long periods of time. That means, this blog post will either be short or disjointed (or both!) as I need to get up and down and change my position due to pain. A lot of my thoughts around sustainability during this injury have revolved around the support and help that I’ve been receiving from others.

These are a few things I’ve been appreciating, noticing, and doing with respects to being as sustainable as possible when life has turned upside down.

1. Help arriving in a sustainable way

One fantastic thing was coordinating help in a more sustainable way with respects to transportation. One person arrived from a far distance, but we were able to coordinate them onto public transit instead of driving a car. Other help arrived while out on another trip, so I was just a stop on the way and that meant no extra driving was needed. And for a trip out running errands, I was taken to multiple stops on one trip, which is always a great way to reduce your footprint.

2. Garden flowers and produce

This isn’t something that I had control over, but certainly is something I appreciated. Krista brought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers from her garden in an upcycled jar. I appreciate so much the brightness of the flowers in a really tough time. I also appreciate that the gift was waste free and thoughtfully made and put together. In addition to that, she brought delicious homegrown fruit and veggies for me to enjoy.

3. Teaching others my recycle system

My recycle system is a bit complicated. I have multiple bins for the different types of recycling that need to go to different locations. When people are giving me help it’s hard to correct their putting things straight into the garbage bin–especially since my waste system is complex–but I found that people stopped to ask and it was a chance for me to share how I do things and just perhaps might inspire some extra accountability on their end.

4. Shopping my pantry

Since I can’t really get out and about, life is forcing me to do a bit of a pantry shopping challenge to make food. It’s a great way to save money and it helps reduce food waste by getting through all the things that may be hiding at the back of the cupboard.

Surviving the unexpected without abandoning sustainable ideals

These little things are just some ways I’ve been trying to keep sustainability at the top of my mind and are also some things that have brought me joy in a really tough season.

While I think it’s important for each of us to do our part for the environment and our planet, this time of physical injury has really highlighted to me how privileged I am to have freedom of movement in my regular life. It’s important to remember that each of our parts in the sustainable journey will look different–not only from each other but from different seasons in our lives.

I will hopefully heal from this injury this year and be able to go back to my “normal.” That isn’t the same for everyone and I hope we can all remember that fact and have understanding as each of our practices will look a little different.

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