Four years ago I was just health conscious. Up to a year-ish ago, I hadn't even heard the term 'crunchy' until I google searched it and found that quiz. I used to refer to crunchies as 'granolas', which was strongly associated with the people from Fairhaven at WWU. My family growing up was pretty down-to-earth and healthy but not in any way what you would think of as crunchy/granola/hippy. I've realized that over time, like the association or not.. I am crunchy. However, I do try to be what I am without looking too much like it on the outside. As in, it is what I do but not 'who I am'. I'm not wearing advocacy tees or hoping that people know I make my own deodorant.. the point is to be all of this that we label crunchy but still live a normal life and hopefully look fairly normal. If I'm going to 'look like something' or be an advocate for something, I hope it's representing Christ well.
Even though all the extensive and sometimes conflicting information can be overwhelming, I try to take it all in stride. My priorities go like this: God/faith, health, frugality, sanity, planet, fun (I know... fun last, but at least it made the list!). Now, Blake's priorities go a little differently (probably God/faith, fun, frugality, health, sanity, planet) ;), but we make our compromises where we need to, and he trusts me to be the keeper of our home and family. We balance each other out well and our kids will be so thankful that daddy puts 'fun' way higher on the list than mommy ;).
I try to just adapt new changes one at a time and of course, I try to do my research too. My one-at-a-time philosophy has been adapted a little lately because sometimes with a baby things come at you faster than that. However, when it's in my control I try not to take on too much at a time. I'm not too worried about when I get to the next things, but I just try to keep working towards being a little healthier, day by day. If I can incorporate one thing into our daily lives before adding another, it helps to keep living natural actually feel natural instead of burdensome.
I guess I sort of break it into categories: personal care/household items, food, baby, healing/medicine (or lack thereof) and other. So right now I'm trying out no shampoo for personal care (using baking soda sparingly and ACV rinses), I just started making (growing?) kombucha for food, in baby we're cutting back on soap baths and using just water more (we just use baby castile soap, but I used to use it every other day and really she doesn't need soaped that often) and in healing/medicine I'm figuring out a realistic or practical (i.e. keeping my sanity) way to deal with our MTHFR and trying to replace OTCs/mainstream remedies with essential oils or natural remedies. There are several things in each category that I want to try or incorporate, but I just can't do it all at once and that's okay. Sanity trumps at some point ;) (and so does our budget!).
These projects might take me weeks to move on from, or they might take months. And if at some point any or all of this starts to take precedence over our relationship with God or showing Christ's love to others, then these things take a back burner. God wants us to be good stewards and treat our bodies as temples, but He also wants us to put Him first, trust Him and be others-centered. If I get cancer because I was serving God and didn't have time to keep up with fighting free radicals.. well then I trust Him to get me through it. God trumps everything.
So, all that said.. here are some of the projects I hope to take on eventually (in no particular order):
Dishwasher detergent
Monthly menu planning/fewer shopping trips
Oil cleansing method of skin care
Sprouting grains/sprouted grain flour
Makeup makeover.. make my own vs finding better brands
Fermenting foods
Green juicing as part of vitamin supplementation (or being more consistent in juicing anyway)
MTHFR supplementation regimen streamlined
Essential oils in cooking
Reduce our energy consumption
Unpaper towels
Incorporate liver into our diet (!!?!) for its high vitamin content
And really, the list goes on.. but that's a taste of it. I won't give you a list of the things we've changed or accomplished because that just feels like bragging :).
It's kind of like a life-long hobby to see how I can make us healthier, while hopefully saving money (isn't it crazy how so many of the healthy alternatives are cheaper - like baking soda is super cheap but has a billion uses). I don't let it control our lives and I try to keep it from overwhelming me. It's not a contest, it just what we can do with what we have. It's our story being written as we live it. Sure, I may look back and realize that something I thought was healthy really isn't so healthy, or maybe I'll never quite get to that simple change that other people have been doing for years.. it's okay. I can only do what I can do, and I'm okay with that.
I know sometimes it's easy to compare ourselves with where we're at in our journey to where other people are at in theirs, but remember - we all have different strengths and weaknesses. For everything that intimidates me about another person, I remember that {usually} they feel intimidated about something else in other people and everyone has something their working on (whether they know it or not). My to-do list might be longer than some in this area but maybe it's shorter in another area. At least that is how I navigate the Pinterest driven world we live in ;) and in thinking so, I can just be happy for and learn from other people. No pressure, lots of grace!
I know sometimes it's easy to compare ourselves with where we're at in our journey to where other people are at in theirs, but remember - we all have different strengths and weaknesses. For everything that intimidates me about another person, I remember that {usually} they feel intimidated about something else in other people and everyone has something their working on (whether they know it or not). My to-do list might be longer than some in this area but maybe it's shorter in another area. At least that is how I navigate the Pinterest driven world we live in ;) and in thinking so, I can just be happy for and learn from other people. No pressure, lots of grace!
So... I went back over to my blog and I do not see a nifty reply-directly-to-the-specific-comment thing... how did you make that happen?
ReplyDeleteBut.... if this hasn't come through in my previous comments, I much admire your commitment to naturalness. In my perfect world, I am... I don't know how crunchy I would be, but more than I am now. I am intimidated by the time it takes- NOT because it takes too much time or isn't a good way to spend time, I'm just really lazy in the evenings (which is apparently the only time I have to get stuff done). I think I wrote something like that in my comment that disappeared on the other post. I like the idea of adding one thing at a time... and that's what I do... although my timeline is rather dinosaur-ish, since I started making laundry detergent in March... then in the summer I tried dishwasher soap... and I'm just willing to consider shampoo as of late... meaning I might get around to doing it in the next six months.
I tell myself it would help if I worked less, but I also think I'm kinda lazy. Maybe when my kids are older?!
Also, I gotta know: are you going to try Elimination Communication?! Is THAT how you upped your crunchiness?! :) Because that is the only thing I remember from that quiz, and I really need someone (that I actually know and trust) to do this because I am truly fascinated. Right now I am not convinced it is possible. But it must be.
-Lisa
This is a great post. I agree with you - it can be overwhelming and so much of the information is contradictory or you spend more money on a natural product and it doesn't actually work. One thing at a time is a great way to start. And you can really take it as far as you want to. For me, a great place to start was our diets and our illness treatment. Even little changes in those things can make a big difference. Next is products/household stuff. :)
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