The official theme for Earth Day this year is ‘Invest in Our Planet’, and on Friday (Earth Day), we will fully embrace this theme in the post.
However, I want to suggest other, related ways to invest throughout this week, and it starts today, with you.
It will be physically impossible for us to heal our beleaguered forests, oceans, and skies if we are not whole and hearty ourselves. Even before the pandemic, many of us were as depleted as the Great Plains soil in the Dust Bowl. Our expectations of what it means to be successful parent, and a successful employee, and a successful member of society have all been raised to unsustainable levels. And at the same time many of us have been dealing with political actions that increasingly marginalized and antagonized. It was already too much.
Another two years of managing personal health risks as well as all the social and economic disruption of the pandemic, has put many of us over the edge. We’re toast. Crispy, burnt toast.
So, it’s essential that we get back to some sort of sustainable - even joyous - way of living - personally, not just planetarily.
We must invest in our own health and vitality if we’re to have any positive impact on the world around us. It isn’t selfish - it’s critical.
There are plenty of resources and tips around that can help give you ideas. Like here, and here, and a course (a program) I highly recommend from one of my most important mentors: here.
From my perspective though, two of the most important ways to invest in ourselves - ways that determine most other practical outcomes - are mindset and habits. Mindset is essentially what you believe (about yourself, the world, your work etc), and habits are what you do. So if they’re not in alignment, then you have some level of discontent or stress (and often some shame.)
They are both a bit too much to go into in detail today (though we will in future posts!), but for now - for an Earth Week ‘Invest in You’ challenge - how about this:
How can you add more delight into your day with a small, simple habit change?
Can you clear off your desk each evening, so that it makes you happy to sit down at your computer each morning? Could you make a five-minute habit of walking around the yard at the end of the day? Could you spend two minutes every morning petting your puppy’s belly? Could you prep a few dinners ahead of time so you eat a delicious, healthy meal with no effort for a few days? Can you make your kids giggle at least once a day? Can you spend a couple of minutes watching the bird feeder? Can you literally stop to smell the spring flowers?
Tell me what you decide and let me know how it’s going. (Comments open to everyone.)
Here’s to (re)investing in your wellbeing this Earth Week.
It’s hard not to delight in petting this very pettable belly.