thrifty

it's interesting how people change. over a few decades we can experience, understand and live out life in a variety of ways. i remember bren telling me once (perhaps twice even) of a conversation she had with a group of women about things they used to believe and now don't. very interesting. i'm really thankful for the ability to adapt. the fact that we change and grow is really important. we develop more informed perspectives, we become more gracious with ourselves and others.

things i used to believe:
- dr seuss was evil
- facebook was lame
- dating younger guys was desperate
- christian faith was about some day leaving earth
- argentina was an american state and that aspen was in europe
- marriage is only between a man and a woman
- collins bay penn was disneyland
- someday i'd go to space as an astronaut
- women got pregnant by sleeping in the same bed as a man
- spaghetti sauce only came in jars from the store and couldn't be homemade
- i was born in an elevator

a couple years ago my colleague michel referred to me as granola. i thought that was interesting but wasn't convinced that label particularly fit well, but i'm finding that it's growing to be increasingly true. maybe he saw something i didn't. i like that which is simple and uncomplicated. things that are neccessary vs things that are unneccessary. i have no desire for that which is unneccessarily artificial. some artifical things are necessary: like heating in winter, refrigerators, toilets, eye glasses. these things are very helpful. but i'm growing discontent with the unneccessary garbage that is pushed at us to consume: fast food/junk food, box-stores and over-priced merch, ipads, teeth-whiteners.

i know several people who don't like to be labelled. i don't mind labels if i feel they either fit me or parallel with the direction i'm moving in. i feel that labels can be very helpful in being more understood. if one word can summaries me well then that i'm ok with that. as i considered the granola label i looked one up online and found this:

granola
An adjective used to describe people who are environmentally aware, open-minded, left-winged, socially aware and active, queer or queer-positive, anti-oppressive/discriminatory (racial, sexual, gender, class, age, etc.) with an organic and natural emphasis on living, who will usually refrain from consuming or using anything containing animals and animal by-products (for health and/or environmental reasons), as well as limit consumption of what he or she does consume, as granola people are usually concerned about wasting resources. Usually buy only fair-trade goods and refrain from buying from large corporations, as most exploit the environment as well as their workers, which goes against granola core values.

this fits quite well indeed! i'm comfortable with that label. the few things that don't quite fit i feel it's fairly safe to assume they will eventually as i continue to grow and become mindful about my consumption. there's part of me who feels that by saying this, by parking myself in one specific camp, i'm opening myself up to cricitism - "but les, what about your 'suv'? what about your large carbon footprint caused by trips abroad?" haha. that's funny. come on, nobody's perfect... nor is my granola living. i guess it's important to recognize that this is how us lorimers are growing, and i don't really expect everyone to be drawn to simplicity. i'm really happy about these changes in me.

 

we want to feel ya!
we don't mean to kill ya!
we come back to heal ya!