The benefits of getting a new perspective

In August it will have been 2 years since I left the UK to move to Vancouver. I know it's a cliche but it is crazy how time flies by. In some ways it feels only last week in terms of time away but it feels a life time in terms of how much I have changed as a person since arriving. It's a funny thing when you look back at who you were a year or two ago. The change is drastic. I didn't notice the change happening although it clearly happened. If I look at myself yesterday I feel confident I am the exact same person, but perhaps not. On some microscopic level perhaps I am a new version of myself with slightly altered views to the person who went to sleep. Over time those small steps lead to a bigger chasm of change.

I also can't put my finger on what caused the change. When I left the UK the direction I thought I wanted to take my life was very different to what it is now. Now while I wasn't completely ignorant to healthy eating, environmental and ethical issues I was a fairly stereo typical English male. If there wasn't meat on my plate it wasn't a proper meal, I thought organic was a good way to waste money, I didn't put much thought into how things were packaged, and yoga and meditation were for people who hadn't discovered running. Now however, I eat meat maybe once a week at most, I try to only eat organic, I have fits of rage when I see food in unnecessary packaging and it can be the highlight of my day when someone says "time for Savasana". What happened?

Taking myself out of the bubble of the UK has led me to be able to hear alternative views on how to live your life. I liken it to when I went to University. Up until then I had spent all my time with my school friends being influenced by each others interests and hobbies. We had all had fairly similar upbringings and so inevitably we were all quite similar people. We weren't exposed to as many alternative ways of doing things. Then I went to Uni and my mind was opened, I mixed with people I hadn't before then, they come from different parts of the country, had different opportunities and therefore offered new ideas. I was able to pick what truly resonated with me from a bigger pool of ideas and beliefs and so changed as a person more inline with who I truly was. Moving to another country has been the same only this time the pool of ideas is bigger and I am able to discover my true self much clearer.

The thing is I don't really know where this change is headed. Have I peaked? Am I changed already?  I feel there's more to come if I open my mind to it. I don't know what that looks like or where it will lead me but I feel I have to explore it. It's an exciting thought to think that in two years time you could look back at yourself now and think how inexperienced and naive you once were.

I look forward to finding out.

Changing my ways to be the change I want to see

So turns out if I change nothing, nothing changes. Now I know that sounds an obvious statement. But this is pretty much the epiphany which has led me to start this blog. It is so stupidly evident that not only do I feel a bit silly saying it out loud it is almost worth not mentioning as surely you are all a lot smarter than me and realised this ages ago. However, I am sharing it as for me it's an important part of this journey. If I change nothing, nothing changes. For quite sometime I have felt an almost daily annoyance with some form of modern society. Everyone has the things that get under their skin and pisses them off. Yours might be middle lane drivers mine just happens to be a long list of things that are mostly unsustainable, unethical or unhealthy. When something ticks all the boxes, such as a non organic, pre-peeled, banana wrapped in plastic, I lose my shit.

Now the realisation I had is that while having a mini tantrum in a supermarket because I've just seen the latest ridiculous idea for packaging can be fun it unfortunately achieves very little. If I want to see this change, I have to change my ways. Sure, I've made some sacrifices and have been inconveniently peeling my own bananas for a while now, but I do still buy food that is part of that system I so detest. As much as I complain about that system, I support it with my hard earned money. I may buy mostly organic, local and seasonal (in that order of priority at the minute) but until recently I have been buying my food from the same supermarkets that sell stuff I disagree with and whose organic produce still mostly comes in plastic anyway. In all fairness to the supermarket if people keep buying the food wrapped in plastic and only having moderately quiet rants about it in the aisle then why would they change their ways? As far as they are concerned I gave them cash so I must support and need what they are offering. What mug would give money to something he disagreed with?

If I want to see change, I must change my ways. If I don't support and like how supermarkets package their food, pressurise farmers to lower their costs, stock unseasonal food, waste food, etc, etc. then I need to change my routine and habits so that I am not supporting them with my money. If I need to buy food I will buy as much as possible at a local, organic, independent store rather than the more convenient and closer supermarket. It might not stock as much stuff and it might be further away from my house but it will be inline with my views and whats more important convenience or conservation?

This "beef" isn't just for my local, unsuspecting supermarket, it needs to be for everything I spend my money on. It isn't going to be an easy process but it still needs to happen. I am now reassessing every aspect of my life to see where else I have been bending over and supporting things I disagree with. It's quite a lengthy ordeal so if someone can make an app for it I'd be very grateful.

And to the naysayers who say "Whats the point? What difference will one person make?" I'm not looking to change the whole world, just my world. If I change nothing, nothing changes.