I have ideas for a book, provisionally entitled, ‘Just Eat a Peach’. Here is a tentative first chapter or introduction. Comments most welcome.
Personal observations suggest that changing personal habits can take anything from between six months and a lifetime. More optimistically, I would say that where there is no pressing urgency, altering personal routines and habits can be expected, to take between six months and two years.
I can’t manage comprehensive self-sufficiency. Now does this text intend, in its scope and depth, to answer every DIY question from “How do I slaughter a pig?” to “What about Greenhouse gases?” On the contrary, it is based firmly within the realms of my own experience and observations of what works and what may be a waste of time.
Where should we start? There is so much to consider, and potentially every area of our lives can be re-examined. For the purposes of this exercise it helps us enormously to make a start with something, when we remember that we are responsible for our personal circumstances and understand that there are excellent reasons to embrace change. I wish to send out a rallying cry, to empower us to act, to do something, no matter how small, to make a difference. While many citizens charged with aspects of decision-making seem to spend their time in power struggles concerned with budgets, targets, strategies, spheres of influence and planning, we foot soldiers can set to work with our gloves off – or on, if you happen to be washing dishes or gardening.
Seriously, do we want to wait until we have to choose between washing the dishes, or washing our hair? Do we really expect to ‘have it all’ indefinitely? If the Kyoto Protocol and Doha amendments being negotiated mean anything, they signal that we will have to make such choices. Does it not make sense to start examining our habits now, so that the pains we have to go through are less agonizing?
Taking time to choose, then reflect, adapt and accept or reject our choices, is how we eventually achieve permanent shifts in our habits. Much of what I suggest may not work out for you; and since I started writing, various problems have surfaced which make certain apparently ‘eco-friendly’ choices unworkable for me. Unless we have tried and tested something over a period, the chances are, it won’t endure, and may end up costing us more time, energy, resources and goodwill than we can readily afford.
But time is one commodity we seem to be running short of, unfortunately. And certain themes keep coming back to me. On the one hand, there is some reassuring evidence that I am on the right track; and on the other hand, I am reminded of the urgent need make a real commitment to change, to self-empowerment and improvement in my circumstances, regardless of my income bracket or job prospects. That urgency is galvanising. I don’t know about you, but, I want to make a difference. I don’t want to rely on others to come up with magical solutions at the last minute.
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January 30, 2015
In Good Heart
Fran Macilvey achievement, choices, communication, friendship, networking, social media Fran Macilvey, Path To Publication, The Rights & Wrongs of Writing 3 Comments
Looking back over everything, I am in good heart.
I have spent five years mostly sitting here, reading, writing, editing, chatting, commenting, and being around the internet communities where I continue to meet amazing people and make friends.
In my more retiring moments, I sometimes wish that I had done other things, like walking into the hills, where the breeze would rouse me and the views from the Pentland Hills down to the coast would invite me to remember the long view. Or watching the spring flowers unfolding in March. Often, I have missed entire seasons, so wrapped up have I been, in the cocoon of communications that is part of my work.
Aware that time is fleeting, I sometimes wish I could have spent more time playing with Seline, teaching her the card games of my youth – must see if I can remember how to play double patience – great fun – and generally laughing so hard, I feel my spirit floating out of my body.
Then, I consider my accounts: my Facebook pages, my twitter and Amazon accounts, this blog and Goodreads account. I remember their genesis in the world of Authonomy, and I think….wow, I set that all up. Little phobic me, the girl who first turned on a computer monitor when she was thirty, set this all up and, with the help of so many friends and supporters, has kept it going, one way or another. Through everything, this small network has linked me to sources of information and advice, consolation and inspiration in so many ways that I can hardly articulate.
But there we are. Life creeps up on one, sometimes. And our achievements are not always obvious until later, when we take a moment to look back.
Thanks to everyone who has been part of my on-line life, all this time. I value you, and your presence, more than I can say. I count it a great privilege to know you.
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