Life Lessons - Change is not a Checklist

Change is difficult in most situations. There is an innate tendency in human beings to fear the unknown, especially when it comes to changing a fundamental aspect of who you are or what you stand for and believe in.

I understood from the beginning of this endeavor that changing my habits to match my values would be a long and difficult process. But within the past two weeks of my inactivity here on Steemit, I finally realized just how arduous change will prove to be.

For the past few weeks (since my introductory article on the matter), I have been gradually introducing composting into my daily life. My family has begun carefully separating animal products from fruits / vegetables and “saving” every piece of food that doesn’t meet our standard to eat. Within a week, we managed to compost 3-4 gallons of food waste! I felt immediate satisfaction and pleasure with our progress… but we were not done yet. As we continued to get into the groove of watching what we throw away, I began to realize that change is not a checklist.

Somehow I thought that once I learned to compost, I would be able to metaphorically check off this skill on my to-do list and move on to my next goal, whether that be cutting meat from my diet or starting a small garden. But change is not something that ends even when you grow accustomed to a new habit… it is something that requires effort and dedication.

Change is a lifelong endeavor and commitment… otherwise it is not change.

Does this dissuade me from my chosen path? 

Not at all!

I would be lying if I refused to admit that it is a little daunting, but like I said in my very first post:

“If I am not living the life that I want, then what is the point? If I am not the embodiment of my values, who am I?”

So will I be able to check off each goal like a simple, to-do list task? Absolutely not. But will I be able to say with satisfaction that I am closer to living each and every day the way I envision? Hopefully!

Enough with my philosophical meanderings on the difficulty of change! Now it’s time for a pop quiz!

What food or drink related item did my family compost the most these past few weeks? 

(Remember that we do not add any animal products to our compost, but we do include paper products such as napkins and Kleenex.)

Good luck!

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Photography from Pexels and used under the CC0 license.

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