BLOG: The Year of Anti-Waste
Last Updated (Monday, 11 January 2010 22:26)
“Anti-Waste” is what I would like the theme of 2010 to be, for myself that is. 2009 was a busy year and I had a lot of people telling me to relax and slow down. I attempted to do so at certain times but I went about it all wrong. My house and office became unorganized and therefore my life felt that way too. I put so much time and effort into my work that I forgot to live my life. Throughout the year I set goals for myself constantly so I don’t typically play into the whole “New Year’s Resolution” thing too much. This year I think I will try it out. I don’t want to waste the opportunity to change my life.
Waste of Time
While I do use social networking sites for business purposes, I find myself wasting a lot of time on those sites for personal purposes. I’m constantly checking Twitter and Facebook from my Blackberry- while I’m watching TV, making dinner, while I eat, before I go to sleep, when I wake up…writing that makes me seem a little cuckoo. It’s almost like any spare minute I have, I’m checking those websites. What else could I be doing during that time? So much! Add all that time up and I have wasted so much of it. Reading, starting that laundry that keeps piling up, talking to my children, exercising...all things I could have been doing. I justified all of that wasted time as calling the “spare” time my “leisure” time. I did this because running a business, a household with kids and dogs doesn't seem to leave me with a lot of leisure time. It seemed ok if checking those sites made me happy. Here’s the problem- checking those sites doesn't make me happy. While I love all my Facebook and Twitter friends- none of it is real. I want to live life and I don’t want to waste time.
Waste of Energy
On the same subject of social networking sites, I feel like I was surrounded by so much negativity this year. Friends (or shall I write “friends”, seeing as I don’t actually know many of my Facebook friends) that are very negative in their status updates and postings of course is negative but more than that it’s my own negative reaction. Social Networking and also all of the blogs and blog comments seem to have a negative air most of the time. The News is also so negative- bad news is the “News”. I now refuse to watch the “News”, especially after seeing a Boston News Station that uses the word “Dramatic” in their promo. I’m just looking for the facts people, not the drama. I know the news stations are just doing what they have to in order to compete in this crazy world but I’ll just read my news until we can all get back to normal. So I react to News, Facebook updates and the negative people in my life in a super negative way. I have complete control over that and yet I still seem to allow other people to bring down my mood. I want to be happy and I don’t want to waste my energy.
Waste of Stuff
My house and my office are filled with “stuff.” Lots of “stuff” that seems its purpose is merely just to take up space. My kids have way too many toys and I would like to give a lot of them away. I want that to be part of my resolution, maybe just writing it here will force me to get my behind in gear on that front. I also find myself stock-piling junk in other ways. I keep makeup and skincare products that I don’t use because I don’t want to waste it…yet it just ends up being wasted. Perhaps if I make a bigger effort to stick to what I bought and not buy anything new until I’m done with each product…ok, that’s totally not going to happen in the beauty department, but perhaps I could try that in the food category. I have a pantry closet full of food at all times. If I cut back on groceries until we finish what we have maybe I can save money and not be as wasteful. I could get rid of a few tabloid magazine subscriptions that I don’t seem to have time to actually read, but beauty and business magazines will have to remain in my life. I want to be more organized and I don’t want to be wasteful.
Waste of Resources
One of my daughters has this Baby Einstein book called “What Does Violet See?” It’s a series and this particular story is about Violet’s journey to find a really big puddle on a rainy day. On her walk she finds and collects other items like a stone and a leaf. This seems so simple but I feel like sometimes I’m moving so fast through life that I’m missing a lot. I want to slow down and really look around to see what I’ve been missing. I drive the same way every day and one day I noticed a sign in front of a church that had inspiring words on it. This isn’t a church I attend; in fact I’m not even sure what kind of church it is! The point is that I had never noticed that sign before and now when I drive by I look to see what the sign will say. I want to notice more stuff like that. In our busy world of texting and email I think I’m also missing out on some quality conversation with real live humans. I want to view people and my surroundings as “resources”. This theory of not wasting resources is about just listening to people and their stories and taking bits and pieces of information from those stories and learning. You know that joke about how older people (parents/grandparents) sit around telling stories about “when I was young I used to walk 33 miles to school in the snow…”? Well, I appreciate those stories. I want to learn from everything around me, including my environment, people- both young and old, and I may event want to pick up a stone on a walk in the rain. I don’t want to waste my resources.
So by the end of the year I should be spending my time better, I should have less junk in my house and perhaps have saved some money, I should have rid myself of some of my negative energy and used my resources better. All of my resolutions require me to really change the way I’m living my life. I know I can improve myself and I WILL start today on my anti-waste list!
Written by
Sandie Torres, Editor-In-Chief of Your Beauty Industry
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