“It’s not who we are underneath, but what we do that defines us”, I heard it said somewhere a while ago. After a couple of hours of thinking about this quote, I have realized a few things. I am not as good a person as I could be. No, I haven’t been a bad girl; I just haven’t been doing all that I could be. And I have set a goal for myself to change that aspect of my personality. The road has been difficult, to be honest, but, somehow I have managed to move from  ground zero. This is my experience, feel free to learn from it, if you desire the same thing.

Others and excuses

There was always someone else to be blamed. During my school years, I held my teachers responsible for my bad marks, later my boyfriend for leaving me, my boss recently for underpaying me, always discomfort. Someone else was doing injustice to me, I thought, and it weighed me heavily. But then, one morning, I realized. It wasn’t them, it was me. Nobody else should be held responsible for my lack of ambition, emotions, motivation, all of those moving powers which I haven’t got much. The first thing I did was, I stopped complaining. Second, I searched for an approach which will fulfill my sense of doing something important. And what did I do? I started going to the park each Saturday and picking up plastic bottles and paper tissues and throwing those in the container. At first, people around were looking at me as if i was a madwoman, but I didn’t care. I knew that I can’t clean the whole planet, but I could clean my favorite park. For a few weekends, it was the same. Me, cleaning, others looking. But, then, a change was made. A young girl joined me. Two older people the weekend after, and so on. Today, our park is one of cleanest in town, just because I hoped others will join, and I have had faith in my neighbors. Be that triggering mechanism!

Myself and others

By knowing that my stress won’t change anything, I started to take less care about negative connotations. I was improving myself on a daily basis, just by noticing bad behavior and seeing myself within it. Today I suffer far less from anger, rage, stress, and grief after bursts of such feelings. Yet again, I have noticed that it is right time for doing something on the spot. I have never before considered the impact I as an individual am making on the planet. I have never thought about the future, what I will be leaving future generations and my future grandchildren.

Having learned all this, I am here to tell you there is quite a lot you as an individual can do for our Earth. Start with baby steps, at your home. Instead using all those toxic products for a ‘’cleaner’’ home, try looking for something in your kitchen cabinets that is non-toxic and safe to use around your children. What we probably use most are pest control supplies. They can be organic and can be safely used around kids, foods and other sensitive places.

You can reduce carbon dioxide level, by avoiding airplane traveling, and also reconsider which car to buy. Try to save up for solar panels, or solar chargers at least. Believe me, it will be noticeable. Science is advancing greatly today, making breakthroughs, and many modern cars are running on engines which are more eco-friendly, with lower emission of hazardous gases. And when it seems that you can’t do anything alone, just remember that I have started like that as well. Remember also, that no matter how small and insignificant your action may be, it is still a step forward, to better and healthier Earth.

With everything said taken into consideration, I started thinking. Who will benefit most? My generation nowadays or some future one? And I realized it is less important. The most important thing is that something was done based only upon free will and consolidation. And this is something that gives me back hope for a brighter future. In the end, do something. Anything.