Is Convenience Hurting Us?

Convenience is great. Truly, I love things that make my life more efficient, but is it hurting me in the long run? More importantly, is it hurting our planet? We take things for granted, as a society in North America our expectations for things are so high. It's ridiculous! Why can't we take a few more minutes to do things? Why must we use convenience items?

I noticed last year that convenience items can truly take over our lives. Disposable has become a way of life and it's hurting the planet. It's hurting us. We have become increasingly lazy and things like making coffee in the morning has become a full fledge machine doing it for us instead of it being 50/50 (I put in the coffee grinds and coffee and the machine brews it). We have lost touch with the meaningfulness of doing things.

We as a society have lost touch with fulfilment and I believe it correlates with convenience items. Sure we have more time, but are we better humans? We are now proud of ourselves for doing the dishes, we call that adulting, but that's just something that has to get done. We complain about stuff that if it's a tad inconvenient, it's the end of the world.

Convenience items are ruining us. We eat out at restaurants because it's easier, we fill our lives to the point that we have no time, we don't think of the products we are using; because an aerosol can is faster than a pump bottle. We are slowly ruining the fabric of ourselves and we don't see it.

We need to slow down, we need to have more meaningful conversations, we need to wish each other happy birthday in more personal ways than wishing it on their FB wall. We need to stop using K-cups, we need to stop buying all our meals at restaurants, we need to stop using harmful products on the planet. Fulfillment doesn't happen overnight, but don't you feel so much more proud when you make a meal instead of buying one? It's self-care.

Self-care isn't just about sheet masks and naps. It's about finding fulfillment in our lives, it's about grocery shopping for the week, knowing your body will be nourished. It's about finding what makes you happy. It's about stressing less about how little time you have. It's about finally prioritizing what is important. It's about realizing "I could buy a case of water when I arrive at my vacation destination, or I could bring a reusable water bottle and fill that instead". It's about realizing that you are so much more than you give yourself credit for.

It's about realizing that convenience items will inevitably hurt us and kill our planet. It's also about realizing that human connection is crucial, and I don't mean via some dating app.

So please this summer, take your time, grow a garden, talk to that cute guy at the bar, take your bike, make a few more meals, marvel at something. Stop using plastic, stop eating so much meat because it's an obvious protein, clean your bathroom with sustainable products.

You are more than convenience, you are worthy of it all and you can achieve it. Just because it's easy, doesn't mean it's worth it. You are not easy, so why make every aspect of your life easy and stress over how you have no time? Be satisfied, be fulfilled, marvel.

Thanks for reading,

Samantha