If you’re into Zero Waste or just interested in being more eco-friendly, and you start looking around online, you can easily start to self-judge and notice all the things you’re not doing “right.”

Our day to day lives are a lot messier than what’s shown online; it’s hard to continually be inspired, especially if you’re always seeing other people’s highlight reels.  With Zero Waste, and the emphasis on making as little waste as possible, you can feel guilty for almost anything if you’re not kind with yourself.

You can see Zero Wasters on Social Media totally crushing eco/ ethical living, and feel like it’s not even worth trying because “If I can’t fit all my garbage into a jar, and make my own shampoo, grocery bags, dinner, face oil, toothpaste, mascara, socks- what’s even the point?” No matter how far you are on your own journey, there’s always going to be something that can make you feel not good enough. This can easily lead to discouragement or apathy, even a desire to reject sustainable practices altogether. If you hear the same message or catchphrase over and over (like zero waste, vegan, or minimalism); you can get sick of it and want nothing to do with it.  We need to be able to figure out why we feel these things, understand how to let go of our reactions, and then learn how to filter out what practices will work for us and what won’t.

We need to be able to use a critical filtering system when we look at what other people are doing, even within ethical and environmental movements like Zero Waste or Minimalism, and ask ourselves- Is this right for me? Will this action help me be who I want to be, or feel how I want to feel? Does it help me live out my values? If we do things without thinking, and just jump on the bandwagon without questioning whether something’s right for us, then it’s not going to be sustainable in our lives long term.

If we want to build a lasting sustainable lifestyle, it helps to know the “why” behind our actions. We can come back to our “why” when we’re trying to figure out if something is right for us. And to give ourselves some self-compassion, every little bit counts- it’s all good.

Image @catherineballas