here it is

My new life has started, and has actually been in place for two weeks now...the ambitious and optimistic part of myself expected something more dynamic than reality has provided, and so as of yet I have no life-changing and world-shifting stories to report. I am, however, delighted at my personal growth. If the world is not a better place for it yet, I believe it will be with time. I am a believer in both accumulating changes over time to make an ultimately larger impact, and the butterfly effect theory--you never can actually know the true consequences of a solitary action, however small. Since almost any individual person would have a difficult time making positive and effective changes to the foundations of society over a two week period, I have focused mostly on improving my own lifestlye, partly to avoid becoming a lifestlye hyprocrite and partly to keep myself motivated to do more, on an increasingly larger scale.

Since moving here, I have walked an hour and a half a day as my "commute" to and from work, instead of burning fossil fuels and subjecting myself to road-rage (which, unfortunately I seem to be quite prone to. Hopefully that will go away with time as well). I have also stopped eating meat out of respect for other life, not to mention the energy sources it takes to produce livestock for the sole purpose of killing them. I even went thrift shopping, a relatively unheard-of event in the life and times of Princess Sunshine (I am an incurable shopper, and so instead of trying to break myself from a love of clothing and style, I am aiming to redirect it). I am trying not to buy things new anymore, since it is far more efficient (and much less expensive, it turns out) to buy items that are previously owned. It falls under that whole "reuse" section of the three R's. It is also connected to my dislike of all things capitalist and corporate, but that is a different topic for a different time.

What I have learned over the past two weeks is that these personal lifestyle changes I have accomplished can hardly be called an accomplishment at all. I have been amazed again and again by how easy it is to live a simpler and more world-friendly life. If all people could see how easy and satisfying it is to walk to the grocery store instead of drive, to use cloth bags instead of plastic ones, to make vegetarian meals instead of following a diet centred on meat, than I really believe more people would choose this route. It is cheaper, it leaves a person with more energy, and it provides one with the underlying feeling of doing something of greater good, and those are just some of the selfish reasons! I was expecting a far greater battle. Now I suppose I have learned that my battle lies elsewhere, and that's fine. I can't run out of things to do yet! This story really has only just begun.