Sustainability: The Little Things

Garbage, garbage, garbage garbage, garbage everywhere. There’s garbage on the streets and garbage in your hair. Garbage, garbage, garbage garbage, now what shall we do? Just throw it away, throw it away, throw it away...and have a nice day!

I have faint memories of my elementary school days, but I distinctly remember being in a musical on the environment. In this musical, I was one of the townspeople singing those lyrics. I don’t remember the rest of the song or even what the musical was, but those lyrics and the melody have latched on to my memory decades after the play ended.

I remember being fascinated about how trees take bad air and make it healthy air. The memory of the images of trees swallowing up dense fog implanted in my mind.

As a child I always loved nature and learning how nature can help make the environment better, long before I understood what sustainability was. As the years went by however, the importance remained in my mind, but my day to day habits were a reflection of the townsperson I played in my elementary school musical.

I never set a true intention, creating sustainability actions within my day to day was a passing forethought. If the resources and tools were available then I would use them, if not then I did not seek them out or create them.

My love of nature and aesthetics that I had as a child has reemerged. As a child, I used to watch bees and birds, insects and animals as they went about their day. I took great care to just observe how they interacted with the environment. I would walk around my grandmother's garden and soak up knowledge that I never learned in school.

Now many years later, with the intent of being aware of how I use the products of my environment, I have started to make consistent changes that help both nature but also focus on sustainability of the environment as a whole.

Like starting a diet, it began with awareness of what I was currently doing and why I was doing it. Once I became more aware, I found little things that I could begin to do to further my goals. I continue to learn and find new methods to create change in protecting the environment.

My road to the little things...
Learning to compost
Using my recycling bin
Creating a separate space in the kitchen/home for recycling
Being conscious about the vehicle I drive
Modifying my energy use
Gardening

I challenge you to look at your surroundings and think of the little things that you do to make a change to the world. If none come to mind, I welcome you to follow me through my journey, to hopefully inspire you to create your own list of “little things.”

Self Care Stepping Stones- Yoga Pt1

Getting ready for class at OM Beats Yoga Studio in Miami FL.

As I sat in the doctor's office listening to a well meaning specialist finally tell me more about the pain I had been putting off for months, all I could think about was jumping into a treatment. My first question, “Can I start doing yoga to help with this?” was met with his flat response, “is it helping you now?”

I look back on that moment and at the time I had not been doing any type of exercise for over a year and a half so I couldn’t really respond. But my spidey sense wanted to shout back at him, admonishing him for not having the skills to provide information on self care. Lucky for me, I continued asking my physical therapist and then my doctor when I had my car accident and received positive recommendations for yoga. I learned from that experience that although the medical community on one hand is a wealth of knowledge and provides valuable information on my care, they are no substitute for me knowing my body and learning what works for me. Medical professionals may not be trained in all types of care, and so it was up to me to do the research I needed to help find a plan to fit my goals. Why yoga you ask? Well, I did yoga about a year and a half ago so I knew the benefits it offered, however was not sure about it from pain management. I used yoga in the past on what I would call the power side, building strength in my body. I did not use it for the gentle, do not harm aspect, however I knew that part had been available to me at any time.

Yoga may not be for everyone but I want to share some of the benefits. There are other low impact activities that are great substitutes (swimming, walking etc) so if you plan to use them, do what works for you and listen to your body. One important note, if you are taking any classes, make sure to tell your instructor all of your injuries so they can provide you with any modifications needed to prevent further injury.

MY PRO YOGA CHECKLIST

• The twists and stretches are great for my tight muscles
• It builds natural heat in the body providing an added benefit of blood flow to affected areas
• Poses build muscles around the affected helping to take pressure off the area
• The relaxation session at the end of class gives your mind and body a much needed release
• The movements help to lengthen body (i.e the spine, torso, upper and lower) taking pressure off affected areas
• The mix of both power and stillness provide me the opportunity to challenge parts of my body that are not injured and be gentle to the parts that are.
• If you can’t do a pose or movement you can always just lay on your mat...with no judgement
• I learn more about myself, my body and celebrate small victories during each session
• You don’t have to be a professional yoga instructor or advanced student to see benefits

Strong Roots

Driving down my street and looking on the internet at all the perfectly manicured gardens, I realized that emulation of perfection was not, is not who I am, nor what I want for my yard…I wanted to make something creative from my “yard reality”. So I tapped into resources from the internet and word of mouth to turn my reality into something magical…on a budget…of course. As I journey through this garden odyssey, a few helpful things that I am learning in my travels are: 1. If you can get past the perfection of Pinterest and hone in on those who make imperfection perfection, there lies a pot of gold ridden information, pictures and step by step instructions on anything you can think of trying in your yard. 2. Speaking of yard, if you can’t grow grass in your yard. DON’T TRY TO! Grow something else and fill in the rest with rocks, mulch or some other ground cover. Or better yet, build something on it if you can. I learned that my yard can’t be something its not…ok it can be if I was willing to write a large check, but seriously, that would be difficult to swallow. My yard on one side can’t grow grass…ok breathe…that’s fine…you will live…move on to Plan B.

3. A plant in the clearance section if appropriately chosen is just waiting for your loving care, in return it will bless you with a wonderful garden at a substantial savings. Case in point, the beautiful flowers that I purchased at all most next to nothing needed nothing more than simple pruning and some sunlight. Now key word is to make sure you don’t pick a dead one…dead is just dead…unless it is a perennial and then….ok lets save that for the next post.

4. Learn to ask questions, lots of them, from all gardeners and then realize that you will be told different things by different people, so it pays to verify by doing a little research of your own. I learned that as I became older I asked fewer questions. Now I realize children may be the best examples of this after all, as long as I don’t verge on annoyance, I have learned so much by just asking good questions. In some cases even off the wall questions. 5. Discount nursery’s will save you tons of cash and I have saved a lot this season using them, but they will not be your go to help desk guides, so save your pennies and go to a real nursery buy a plant or two that you love and ask them tons of questions! 6. Before planting, know how the sun moves on your property. I didn’t, and now I have a wildflower box with wildflower seeds that are slowly making their way into the world. I am waiting for the yard to get full sun so more seeds can make their glorious debut but I take joy in the small victories.

7. I am a buy and plant and then figure it out person, but now that I am working on larger sections of the yard, it really does pay off to plan your planting. Most importantly, I have learned to use my resources, the internet, friends, family, people on the street…no seriously… if you tell people you are gardening, perfect strangers off the street really do want to give you their opinions. Gardening for me has been a lesson in pivoting. The ability to take a plant, put care and work into it and watch it completely just die over a matter of weeks (ok days!). Learning how to diagnose when I can and fix the problem or when to let the plant pass on and learn or the most difficult realize I had no idea what happened and just move on. It’s those life lessons I learn through my plants that actually help give me stronger roots and grow.

Blooming Season

I had a wonderful experience exploring the Atlanta Botanical Garden in Gainesville Georgia this past weekend. Walking through each section of the garden I noticed that the designers blended the looks of wild meadows along with ornamental gardens. I personally enjoyed taking photos of the spring time growth. It reminded me that this is the time of the year when the garden is taking shape. In many parts, the look of the area had not yet revealed itself to the eye. Flowers were in mid bloom or had just begun budding. It is a time of new beginnings, a time for the flowers to flourish in the spring sun or peek their leaves out of the rich earth to begin their ascent towards the rich sunshine. Although this past week brought our area more rain that I thought my flowers could handle, it has really allowed both my garden and the garden in Gainesville to really flesh out. The rain will bear the fruit of wonderful blooms and strong plants emerging over the next week especially during the upcoming warmer week. So I have been using this time for maintenance and preparation. In my garden I have laid the basic foundation and although I have more that I could always do, I learned from the Gainesville garden that giving the garden some time to breathe and flesh itself out so that it can reveal itself to you will bring a richness to my plants. I have been doing light maintenance to ensure that the basic needs are met. I have also been stepping in for any emergencies (such as my 911 merigold fungus root rot that required immediate removal of the flowers before the infection spread) but in most cases, hands off. It requires a big lesson in patience and self control. The flowers are waiting to not only reveal their true splendor but also mine as well.

THE PAIN MANAGEMENT MACHINE

I was always curious about the pain machine. From an outsider who never had any extensive issues with ongoing symptoms of chronic pain, understanding why people chose one method of pain management over another was a mystery. I have had a personal relationship with the healthcare industry from a mental health perspective, however never as it relates to pain management. I have had a turn of events, some may call it life changes, that have brought me face to face with the machine of pain management. I am experiencing firsthand what it’s like to live with daily pain and walking the path toward self-help in pain care. First, I don’t think there is a one size fits all approach to pain management. Everyone has their own unique needs and challenges which makes operating in the machine of pain management a journey of personal awareness and learning. I’d like to take you through some of my personal pitfalls along my journey and my path towards personal ownership of recovery in hopes that it may help you in some way.

 LISTEN TO YOUR BODY WHEN IT IS IN PAIN, BELIEVE IT AND SEEK MEDICAL ATTENTION This is probably the hardest lesson that I have learned and honestly, I am continuing the learn. When the pain first began, I brushed it off, not knowing what it was. Then I chalked it up to early onset of arthritis, even though I had no other signs. Finally, I began to get frustrated at by body. My body was attempting to tell me that something was happening and like always I was not listening. When I did finally seek medical attention, the pain was pronounced and I had added anxiety of pain management. One week later, I was involved in a car accident where I was rear ended. I sprained my neck and had added back pain. The pain now intensified and connected through my neck and back and arms. This time, I was listening and sought the medical attention my body required.

 HAVE SPECIFIC EXAMPLES WHEN YOU ARE SEEKING MEDICAL ATTENTION I can only imagine what doctors hear as descriptions of pain and are then required to diagnose it. It didn’t half occur to me until I was sitting in the waiting room that the better description of pain, location, type, time of day etc. I provided, the better they would be able to diagnose it. I did not want to fall victim to being misdiagnosed or even worse sent from doctor to doctor if it was something I could avoid. I’m not saying brush up on google teaching you medical terminology. I had to get a few good examples of when I was in pain and what the pain did to my body. I personally love metaphors but I think you use what works best to convey the information.

 IF THEY SEND YOU TO A SPECIALIST DON’T COMPLAIN, BE OPEN TO ALL POSSIBILITIES My first thought…. another co-pay or more time! However, it was evident that my primary care was not able to diagnose my pain. The specialist was a little out of the box but impressive. Even without a diagnosis, which we don’t have an official one yet, what really matters is a good treatment plan and I wanted to be open to the possibilities to find a treatment plan that worked for me.

THE POSITIVES TO ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE That leads to alternatives to an MD. There are so many treatment options beyond traditional primary care doctors. Acupuncture, Chiropractors, Massage, Yoga. If you want to explore the fullest extent of treatment options be open what the medical community and holistic care community can offer. Since I had my car accident I have been receiving chiropractic care on top of my physical therapy. I chose not to limit my options to taking medications unless I had to.

Since this is just the beginning of the journey stay tuned for more on what I am learning from what is turning out to feel like a maze.