Fairies and Sunshine Dust Prevail!
Although most of our feedback has been positive, Zac and I have recently received some feedback from people who believe that we've lost our marbles and that our dream of building an earthship and uprooting our current life is ludicrous! Looking at our situation objectively, part of me doesn't blame them as are well on our way to living out the "American Dream." And yet, we don't buy into all that that "dream" espouses and we are making the conscious decision to change the course of our future despite what others might say or think.
I think I speak for both of us when I say "I don't mind if people think I'm crazy!" In fact, time and time again throughout the course of history, it has been the more forward thinking individuals who have been scoffed at by mainstream society, who, only to find years, decades or centuries later that those "nuts" actually had something worthwhile in all their jabberings.
I guess you can say our skin has toughened up over the past several years as we have received negativity from many around us for going against the grain. Like I've said in previous posts, thinking about expanding our family really set things in motion regarding living more naturally and more sustainably as we would now be thinking about our child's future as well as our own. We began planning for a natural delivery for our son, eating organic whenever possible, cut out the consumption of meat entirely, got rid of cable television, threw out all of our chemical cleaning agents, bought most of our son's baby items second hand, and more recently discarded nearly all of our chemical-laden cosmetic products in place of things we could make here at home or at least with products that we could pronounce the ingredients to.
In making all of these changes, we have received some comments from those around us which have caught us off guard on one hand I suppose but were also to be expected on another. It perplexes us how just because we are choosing to live our life in a less conventional way, some feel entitled to make negative comments about our lifestyle when all we are trying to do is create a healthier future for our family. We are being thoughtful about what we consume and are researching many things that we've taken for granted for so many years in the hopes of gaining information that will help us make better, healthier, more sustainable decisions in our day to day lives. We don't understand how this honest, mindful way of living can be met with such negativity but sadly, we have encountered push-back from some closest to us.
Despite the fact that we don't agree with the direction that much of our society at large is headed, we stay focused on our own family as much as possible and try not to push our values and beliefs upon our friends, families, co-workers, acquaintances, etc. We believe that the changes we have made and are continuing to make are the right ones for our family and would like to receive the respect we feel we give others.
With that said, however, we are open to genuine questions and expressions of feeling regarding our decisions but are simply asking for support and love from those around us. We are open to honest, thought-out concerns regarding our build as we can't possibly think of everything and would benefit from as much input as possible from other people who have done their research.
We've been told that we are taking this decision to build an earthship home too lightly and are naively painting these next couple of years as a light-hearted, fun-filled journey with sunshine dust and fairies. If I haven't been clear, we know that these next couple of years are going to be a LOT (a LOT a LOT) of hard work. We have done a great deal of research thus far as to what exactly this process is going to entail and know that we are in for a great deal of stress and a multitude of headaches. And yet, we also know that we are in for the ride of our lives and couldn't be more excited! As with any big change in life, you have both good and bad that come with it... so, what is the use of focusing on the negative right now? How will that help us get into our dream home any faster? Every concern we have had we have chosen to learn as much about as possible about instead of becoming disheartened with how much work is to come. We choose knowledge and positivity over negativity at every turn as knowledge and positivity provide us with energy and focus and negativity is draining and depressing.
Thus, we are choosing to look at the beauty around us and use that energy as a vehicle to set us in motion and become as prepared as we possibly can to create our dream future. We choose sunshine dust and fairies, thank you!
I think I speak for both of us when I say "I don't mind if people think I'm crazy!" In fact, time and time again throughout the course of history, it has been the more forward thinking individuals who have been scoffed at by mainstream society, who, only to find years, decades or centuries later that those "nuts" actually had something worthwhile in all their jabberings.
I guess you can say our skin has toughened up over the past several years as we have received negativity from many around us for going against the grain. Like I've said in previous posts, thinking about expanding our family really set things in motion regarding living more naturally and more sustainably as we would now be thinking about our child's future as well as our own. We began planning for a natural delivery for our son, eating organic whenever possible, cut out the consumption of meat entirely, got rid of cable television, threw out all of our chemical cleaning agents, bought most of our son's baby items second hand, and more recently discarded nearly all of our chemical-laden cosmetic products in place of things we could make here at home or at least with products that we could pronounce the ingredients to.
In making all of these changes, we have received some comments from those around us which have caught us off guard on one hand I suppose but were also to be expected on another. It perplexes us how just because we are choosing to live our life in a less conventional way, some feel entitled to make negative comments about our lifestyle when all we are trying to do is create a healthier future for our family. We are being thoughtful about what we consume and are researching many things that we've taken for granted for so many years in the hopes of gaining information that will help us make better, healthier, more sustainable decisions in our day to day lives. We don't understand how this honest, mindful way of living can be met with such negativity but sadly, we have encountered push-back from some closest to us.
Despite the fact that we don't agree with the direction that much of our society at large is headed, we stay focused on our own family as much as possible and try not to push our values and beliefs upon our friends, families, co-workers, acquaintances, etc. We believe that the changes we have made and are continuing to make are the right ones for our family and would like to receive the respect we feel we give others.
With that said, however, we are open to genuine questions and expressions of feeling regarding our decisions but are simply asking for support and love from those around us. We are open to honest, thought-out concerns regarding our build as we can't possibly think of everything and would benefit from as much input as possible from other people who have done their research.
We've been told that we are taking this decision to build an earthship home too lightly and are naively painting these next couple of years as a light-hearted, fun-filled journey with sunshine dust and fairies. If I haven't been clear, we know that these next couple of years are going to be a LOT (a LOT a LOT) of hard work. We have done a great deal of research thus far as to what exactly this process is going to entail and know that we are in for a great deal of stress and a multitude of headaches. And yet, we also know that we are in for the ride of our lives and couldn't be more excited! As with any big change in life, you have both good and bad that come with it... so, what is the use of focusing on the negative right now? How will that help us get into our dream home any faster? Every concern we have had we have chosen to learn as much about as possible about instead of becoming disheartened with how much work is to come. We choose knowledge and positivity over negativity at every turn as knowledge and positivity provide us with energy and focus and negativity is draining and depressing.
Thus, we are choosing to look at the beauty around us and use that energy as a vehicle to set us in motion and become as prepared as we possibly can to create our dream future. We choose sunshine dust and fairies, thank you!
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