5 Ways our Selfcare Affects the Environment

Selfcare isn’t just about taking care of yourself, it’s about how you are working towards being your own best human. Which in my definition, involves how we are treating the earth and people around us.

Today is the Global Climate Strike, a strike, a protest, a movement where “millions…will walk out of our workplaces, and homes to join young climate strikers on the streets and demand an end to the age of fossil fuels” (global climate strike.net).

In solidarity with the millions who will be striking, we need to be looking at all aspects of our lives that play a role in how we are treating the environment.

Making changes in how we perceive the earth’s resources is an important part of our growth as humans. Here are 5 ways that we have an effect on the environment in selfcare and 2 ways that we can address all of our interactions.

1. Health is the most important part of our lives, and our selfcare often should and does revolve around the aspect of being ‘healthy’. This is incredibly broad, some of us live fairly mobile and relatively pain-free, while others live with debilitating diseases, pain or chronic injuries. Health is relative to our own bodies.
   
   However, we all have the ability to make choices in our health that have consequences on the environment. Do we choose to engage in activities that are harmful to ourselves and the earth or do we use our health to foster the health of the environment?
   
   
2. Food is also a large part of selfcare. Our ability to function properly depends on our bodies ability to extract energy and resources from our foods. By having a relationship with the people who farm and grow your food you are not only supporting local families, but also participating in community and gaining a deeper understanding of agriculture and its sustainability practices.
   
   
3. We all have our own rituals associated with our selfcare, whether it’s indulging in a latte or a book that you love, or really working towards being more open or learning a new skill. Acknowledging the aspects we love about these and then rethinking how we partake in them can be a good change to a well-loved ritual. There are so many small ways you can tweak your habits to make them even better for everyone.
   
   
4. Selfcare has a lot to do with our frame of mind and how we talk to ourselves (and others). It may seem like a stretch to link that back to the environment, but how we treat ourselves can be a big influence on how we treat others and the environment. Speak to yourself with love and care and acceptance and do the same for the environment. It’s an important relationship in our lives, if not the most.
   
   
5. The last aspect of selfcare that is important to link with the environment, is community. Selfcare often needs to have community, we are social beings. Do we hold up our end of environmentalism in our groups and communities? Do we speak up or share our thoughts when the subject of our earth comes up? Do we have open conversations and open minds when it comes to how we are working towards sustainability? Do we see the struggles of communities facing harsh climate realities? And do we see the communities who are working to preserve their ways of life, including valuing what the earth gives us, see them, acknowledge them and work with them?

Obviously not everyone can be 100% environmentally friendly at all times. And there are times when people have put forth their very best efforts and still have to use plastic straws or bags. And this isn’t even touching on the cost (personal and global) of making some changes for the environment. That’s why it’s important to have the Global Climate Strike, so politicians and companies hear our voices and we can slowly change the system for Everyone.

This is not a time for shaming our efforts, but building up the chances that we do have to make a difference. So there are 2 ways that we can always approach Selfcare that will help to keep us on track and at our own pace.

1. Mindfulness – bringing awareness to our routines and habits, instead of going through them without thought. Acknowledge why we do them, how the can be the best they can be, and know that to change them isn’t to lose out but instead to gain much more.
   
2. Choices – we always have the choice to work better for our planet and communities, even when it seems like our choices are limited, we can make it the best possible choice.

If you have a chance today, September 20, 2019 consider lending your voice to a local strike or visiting www.globalclimatestrike.net to learn more.

Peace + Love,
Natalie