Do I miss anything from when I polluted and depleted like the average American?
People ask me sometimes if I miss anything from when I polluted and depleted like the average American, or more, really.
They hear about not filling a load of trash since 2019, avoiding doof and packaged food, and not doing all the things mainstream culture considers normal and necessary and think I’m giving things up.
The honest answer is that I don’t miss anything, at least I can’t think of anything. All those things I get rid of get in the way of freedom, liberty, connection, community, and what creates meaning and purpose.
There are two aspects to what I’m doing though, and the other one is challenging. The first is trying to live so I hurt innocent people less, which means living more sustainably. I don’t miss hurting people for my comfort and convenience.
The other aspect is living in a different culture than mainstream, and trying to help restore its lost values of do, live, leave, love. Living by one culture (of freedom, safety, security, health, etc) in the middle of another (mainstream culture) means friction all the time. It means what others would call microaggressions.
Living in a different culture than most people around me is challenging. I’d rather live in a world where culture didn’t make it so hard to live without hurting innocent people and everyone around me gave in to accepting it, but I live in that world. Since I do, I will work to restore stewardship and sustainability, not just to give in to what’s easy because nearly everyone is doing it.
The internal conflict, being wracked with guilt, knowing I’d be acting against my values isn’t worth it.
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