Threads and Epiphanies

Some people turn to a green or simple life because of an epiphany. Gavin, author of the popular blog 'The Greening of Gavin' is an example of this. The very first post in his blog tells the reader about his massive change of heart and thought after watching the 'environmental documentary that shall not be named.'

Other people turn to a simple life because of an event or new situation - perhaps a breakup, a new family member or a new friend who guides them.

For me, it was a case of small unconnected threads slowly twining together, a change of heart and situation and an epiphany bringing it all.

The threads were: curbing my outrageous spending habits, buying greens from local markets, a love of zakka style home decorating, a long standing but dormant care for the environment, a belief that one person's actions matter, a friend who encouraged me to change my shockingly bad diet to include more vegetables, another friend who invited me to go to local markets with her instead of supermarkets, a good grounding in frugal lifestyle provided by my Mum, another friend who inspired me by paying her homeloan off in a rediculously short time by being frugal and self controlled.

The change of heart was the decision to buy a house and have children when I'd previously said I was not keen to have either in my life.

The change of situation was the recession combined with a wedding to plan and save for.

The impetus that bought it all together? Hearing an interview on ABC's radio program 'Future Tense' which mentioned frugality and simple living. With my love of zakka simple style and my need to save I visited Rhonda Jean's beautiful blog 'down--to--earth'.

Reading it bought a great sense of peace and rightness to my heart. A simple life was where I wanted to head from that moment onwards. As I weaved my way through the internet blog-world I learned more about environmental issues, chemical reduction and gardening and they quickly fell into my plan of what I wanted from my life.

I don't want to give the wrong impression that I am making a 360 degree turnaround on my life or undergoing seachange. The urge towards a simple life has always been part of who I am - the part who has always said that she will retire to a little cottage with ducks, chickens and a goat with a small orchard in her yard, and the part who had things like 'learn to make jam' on a list of things to do this year. I've been saying for months that I wanted a vegetable garden. Now it's simply that I have the guidance on how to do that and enough inspiration from my friends and internet blogroll to start.