
Do you ever get overwhelmed by clean living?
My son was sick a month or two ago. I posted something about it on Facebook asking for prayers and advice. I received lots of the normal well wishes,



Frankly, things like diet, essential oils, gardening, cloth diapering, going paperless, homemade remedies, staying organic, or a pesticidefree, beefriendly yard are all great; but it’s easy to get caught in the trap that if you don’t do them all, you’re not doing enough for the environment or worse, that you are a bad parent. I would love to know all the edible weeds that reside in my yard and I wish I had time to be out there foraging for them and using them to bolster the health of my family. I wish I were an expert canner and could successfully preserve all my homegrown foods. I can’t do all that. I do what I can, and little by little what I’m capable of increases. If I decided to take a huge chunk out of the clean living lifestyle and do everything at once, I’d probably get burned out and exhausted and go back to using paper towels and eating from the drive thru at McDonalds.
Our clean(ish) lifestyle started back with cloth diapers and continues to grow organically from there. This is basically how it’s gone so far: Why use disposable wipes when we’re not throwing diapers away? Let’s get cloth wipes. Why not save money even more money and use cloth napkins and paper towels? And skip paper dishes? Why not? Did you know that bugs don’t like cayenne pepper? Let’s sprinkle it on our plants to keep them away. Clothesline drying isn’t so bad after all! I think I can get the hang of this on a regular basis. Buying organic beef and milk isn’t all that expensive if you plan it right. Let’s commit to that. Maybe we’ll be better about eating all organic vegetables later on in life, but for now that can wait. Did you know how easy it is to make your own deodorant? Cheap too. Can’t hurt to try it. You know what?
We’ve been eating only whole foods for awhile now. I think we can afford to cheat a little and buy that box of Oreos!
We’re taking baby steps. It doesn’t seem like we’ve come that far when we look at yesterday or last month, but when we look back to five years ago, the huge change we’ve made step by step and bite by bite is huge. Essential oils is next on my “to learn” list. My friend down the street is always toting hers around, but she learned like me, a little at a time. She was overwhelmed at first but started with just one oil—one remedy. Now, she drops by my house and just happens to have a spray bottle of her magic bug repellent that she uses to keep the mites away from my mailbox. She’s not pushy about it, but she happens to mention the ingredients in passing and then moves on. One day, when I’m not overwhelmed, I’ll sit down with her and ask for her favorite EO remedies. Maybe things will snowball from there as they’ve been doing all along. For now, I don’t mind a couple of red bugs hanging around my bricks if it means I can keep my sanity. I’m going to continue to take this one manageable step at a time!
Do you ever become overwhelmed by all the green, clean and healthy choices you're trying to make for your family?