Our Authentic Self

Rhonda at Down to Earth wrote a post recently that talked about contentment and being your authentic self. This post really spoke to me as I had been having a conversation with my friend M, about something very similar.

I think being your authentic self is really important. But I also think that starting the path to being green and sustainable is often the start of a really big journey. It’s also easy to fall into things you think you “should” be doing before a) being really comfortable with those decisions, b) or understanding why you are making those choices and finally c) doing things you may not actually want to do.

A good example for us is wood heating. Mr B and I are uncomfortable with using a wood heater as we view it as environmental pollution (and if you lived near us you would understand – the hills are blanketed with people’s wood fire smoke). In an ideal world, we would have a solar hydronic heating system. But till we get there, and on our pursuit of a more sustainable life we bought a house with a wood heater. But for us at the moment, part of our authentic life is not to use one. The more we read, the more we understand that perhaps this isn’t the environmental bogie we see it as – but we’re not quite there yet.

I also think being your authentic self is a journey as well. Isnt life really? I know that my journey into motherhood has completely changed me. I’ve been on my sustainable path for the last 10 years but can even look back to 12 months ago and see that I’m different now to what I was then.  If you’d told me 12 months ago, that I would be interested in facets of unschooling, I would have laughed in your face.

But then again, I was once a 16 year old girl who wouldn’t contemplate anything about helping the environment because it wouldn’t be this generation’s problem to live with (was I naïve or what?? LOL). But now I am an impassioned greenie hippie mum ;-)

So I guess what I’m trying to say, it’s important to be true to yourself and what you believe. The genuine you, the real you, the you in this moment at this point in time. In some cases, it’s the beginning or the middle or the end of that path. We are all learning, educating, living and being…so don’t live someone else’s life, live the one that you feel helps you get to where you want to go, to be, or already are.