This is what I keep
telling myself in order to not get totally overwhelmed by the sheer amount of
information I’ve found since I started looking into this. It is also what I
fear I might do –panic-, when I find myself in a bind and not know how to
respond to my dilemma in a way that represents my new and fantastic vision!
This is not the
first time I’ve gone all gun-ho over something that is not the norm. I was on
the organic bandwagon way back when. After my son was born (12 years ago) I
went gaga over all things organic, no sugar substitutes or artificial colours,
free-range everything, and the like –He had no sugar (that I knew of) until
after his first birthday. And for his second birthday I made a banana whole
wheat cake and gave away banana muffins in the goodie-bags. I had to be brought back into the reality
train when I realized that buying organic was really expensive and that free
range beef was double what my budget allowed. However, I have learned to find a
happy medium that I am pretty comfortable with and which I always try to
improve.
I practically live
by the works of "Clean Eating" by Tosca Reno and "The Maker’s Diet" from Jordan S. Rubin.
I try to adhere to the concept of ‘whole foods’ as much as possible and buy mostly
foods that have ingredients I can pronounce and canned foods that include no
more ingredients than what they are. On that note too, I try to support local
produce as much as I can and have walked out of a store without apples because
they were not local! I live in BC people, we GROW apples! My kids constantly
complain about the food I serve however I have no plans of buying white bread
or sugary cereals. Sometimes, though, I do cave in and I have to admit to buying
less than desirable lunch items for their school grub (I have not succumbed to Dunkaroos
or fruit rollups yet, but close).
So, I worry about
the validity of what I’m trying to do here and how to remain true to this cause
without feeling and appearing like a hypocrite. It’s taken a while to arrive at
this point of conviction and so I figure it will take a while to come up with a
plan that works for the lifestyle I have right now. I also hope that by
starting with baby steps it will eventually get easier and before long the
whole thing will seem like second nature.
I’ve talked to many
friends about this, and during one of this conversations, one of my friends
said to me, “Well, if you’re going to be serious about this cause, you can no
longer shop at JOE” and I said “I KNOW!” But I loved JOE. Yet, I’ve always
known about JOE, he’s the same as GEORGE, they have the same quality and same
prices. And having worked in the industry I know HOW they get those prices (don’t
worry I’m sure I’ll have a rant post about this in the future). So as much as I
liked the ‘design’ of JOE, deep down I’ve always felt guilty buying there. Now
I can’t, in good conscience, shop there and still have this mission. So I’m at
a loss, I need new t-shirts and I don’t know where to buy them… I have a few
options which include making them myself, or making do until I find some
acceptable pieces. But I need some new t-shirts yesterday!
I have a book that
I just found at the library that I think is going to really help me in this
journey. I just read the introduction, but so far it is exactly what I’ve been
feeling for the past few years in regards to the fashion industry. I won’t tell
you what it is until I get more into it and decide if it will help or not…
I know I am not be
able right now to buy all things organic or environmentally friendly, or all
things made in Canada, but I would like to, some day. And so, I start with
small steps towards that goal.
First step: read
the book
Second step: get
some t-shirts
Will keep you
posted…
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