Is it enough to pay attention to the regionality of my food, or do I have to be vegan, live a zero-waste lifestyle, and be self-sufficient to live a truly sustainable life? What does a sustainable lifestyle include, and what doesn't? Here's my take.

Good enough?

At the beginning of my own sustainability journey, I focused on plastic and littering. Then I applied what I learned as best I could. But I quickly felt that wasn't enough. My inner dialogue often sounded something like this:

Rethink your consumer behavior. And your vegetarian diet isn't really enough either. Don't you feel bad after buying those avocados? I mean, they use an enormous amount of water. And let's not even think about vacation destinations so far away that you have to fly there. Your cleaning products, especially your laundry detergent, aren't really sustainable either; you know that by now, right? Please only shop for sustainable and fairly produced products; anything else would be a disgrace! You shower for too long anyway, and please stop wrapping gifts in plastic. Why don't you start growing your own vegetables? ...

The pressure to do it right

I've probably exaggerated this dialogue a bit here. However, anyone who has ever browsed the internet with the intention of learning more about sustainability or read books on the subject knows that there are countless areas of life that can be made more sustainable.
Perhaps you can relate to some of these thoughts. It creates a kind of pressure to keep doing better, to optimize the next area of ​​life. But where does this pressure come from?

With the growing interest in the environment, climate protection, and sustainability in recent years, these topics have become more prominent in politics (although not as much as I would like). In addition, there are more and more news programs, documentaries, blog articles, and posts addressing these issues. This can create pressure on the recipient to "have to" do better. For society. For nature. For animals. For our planet. For our descendants.

In In my case, the pressure is probably self-imposed (which hardly surprises me, as it's a bit of a habit of mine: constantly putting pressure on myself...). I'm an ambitious person and want to do everything as correctly and completely as possible. Therefore, I also want to be as sustainable a person as possible.

But who actually determines what it means to live sustainably? Where does sustainability begin and where does it end? When do I begin living a truly sustainable life?

Experts from various fields where sustainability plays a role certainly have their own opinions on this. And that's perfectly fine. It's certainly interesting to take a closer look at their assessments. But who is right when there are differing opinions?

These different opinions, views, and perspectives exist in every conceivable area. For each individual, there are things that are morally or ethically "right" or "wrong."
This can certainly be applied to the topic of sustainability. For some, getting rid of cars is the right thing to do for climate reasons. For others, buying local food is much more important.Others see the greatest contribution to climate protection in a vegan diet, etc.

For me, this is precisely where the key to answering the above questions lies. We all have our own lives, have had our own experiences, and have developed our own viewpoints and perspectives.

In the end, only we ourselves can decide what for us right or wrong. Where for us where a sustainable life begins and where it ends.

I can come to the conclusion that it is enough for me to avoid buying single-use plastic. Or that I not I'll give up my car because it's simply not feasible at the moment. Or I'll stop eating animal products – precisely because, in my view, that's the greatest benefit to the planet.

Me vs. Others

So it's up to us to find the answers to these questions. Primarily for ourselves. Naturally, when it comes to issues that are close to our hearts, we feel the need to inspire others. To convince them. After all, we've just…the only true one”; the solution. But this truth is not for everyone the Truth or the Solution. Other people will act differently and have different priorities than you do. That's okay, because everyone lives their own life. However, you have to learn to deal with it first. Learn to accept and respect that there are different opinions.

This does not mean that you should not engage in conversation with people who have different views or that you should no longer have discussions.

But the best thing you can ultimately do is live your own truth. And perhaps inspire others along the way. Not because you force your opinion on them. imposes, but because you know your own truth exemplifies.

So there's no point in putting yourself under pressure. We're all on our own individual journey. And we get to decide for ourselves what's important to us and when and where we make which areas of our lives more sustainable. Whether we inspire others with our example remains to be seen. :-)

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Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash