All change!
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Mrs Green takes a break
Morning everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.
I know some of you are sensitive people and I was thinking of you all as we powered through a new moon and solar eclipse – what a ride!
The middle of the year is a great time to reflect on how things are going in our lives. I don’t know about you but I don’t make new years resolutions. However I DO like to have a kind of ‘theme’ or keyword to keep in mind as I go through the year.
My keyword for 2011 is ‘balance’ – balance of body, mind and spirit.
On reflection this weekend I’ve realised I’m not really achieving my goal of balance at all. I’m spending far too much time on this site for starters. It’s not just about writing posts but there are a lot of ‘behind the scenes’ things to be done in order to ensure things run smoothly.
There are comments to be acknowledged, social media campaigns to run, PR and talking to media, not to mention the technical wizardry that keeps things ticking over like panicking when the site crashes or we have to spend several hours backing up the site.
In short I’m tired and UNbalanced.
I may be the friendly face of recycling online, but back at zero waste towers I’m Mrs Grumpy, and my family are suffering for it. I take my frustrations out on them and it’s not a pretty sight I can tell you.
My Zero Waste has been running for three years – who knew it would ever grow so big! I’m still passionate about what I do but and I love to read people’s emails and comments about their own achievements; every one of you is an inspiration to me. But I’ve come to the horrible realisation that if I am to achieve balance in my life I have to cut right back from online commitments and that includes My Zero Waste.
So I’m taking the summer off. If I get the urge to write, to update you on something or share some exciting news then I’ll do it. But I’ll only write if it’s so exciting for me I’m champing at the bit to type.
No more ‘should’s’, ‘oughts’ or ‘musts’ I’ve decided. No more feeling guilty because I haven’t written. No more pressure to write 4 times per week. No more waking up in the middle of the night buzzing with things I ‘should’ have done.
How to keep in touch
I’m not leaving you completely high and dry; you’ll still be able to get your fill of rubbishy talks and compare what’s going mouldy in the back of your fridge:
Chat with fellow rubbish geeks on the zero waste facebook page
Tell me what you’re up to in 140 characters over on Twitter
Make sure you don’t miss anything by signing up for notification either via RSS or email.
If you’ve got something your desperate to ask me or want to say, drop me a line via our contact us form.
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart for all your support and encouragement over the last 3 years and most of all for “taking action” to make the world a better place. Keep on changing the world and remember when you go to throw something away I want you to see my face and hear my voice:
“There is no such place as away!”
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I agree with you, Rae, balance of body, mind and spirit is important to strive for. I hope you have a lovely summer and achieve that balance.
Know of which you speak, and how you feel.
A rest can be good for a change.
And the return all the more potent for it.
Take it easy.
Have a good rest and I will keep up with my blog on all things naturally green. I might even have news of things I have learnt.
We’ll miss you Mrs G but totally understand!
I do think it is sad though that there is a tendency for culture to assume that everyone embraces social networking fully. It would be a shame if you end up putting more on FB or Twitter simply because it is easier and quicker to do a couple of sentences than it is to write a whole post for here. I’m not on Twitter and never will be since I think the whole thing is pointless. I think FB is *almost* pointless too although from time to time it sucks me in.
Take care.
oh what a shame, but I think we all understand how you feel, have a good rest, looking forward to hearing from you soon, have a good break. keep smiling LOL xx
We will miss hearing from you, but you do have to look after yourself and those you love! You can’t look after the world if you can’t look after yourself – and as you say, that has to be mind, body and spirit/soul!
Have a lovely summer – I hope it lets you shine as much as the sun did for us this weekend – it’s been glorious! *hugs*
Enjoy your long overdue rest. May the sun shine for you.x
Hi Mrs Green,
There is always a lull in activity at this time of year since the great outdoors beckons. I hope you enjoy the summer, just like any other family.
Enjoy your break. My guess is that you will come back refreshed because you will miss the ‘buzz’ of being on here.
I too don’t ‘do’ twitter and barely ‘do’ facebook so wont be seeing you on there. Well done for raising the issues of waste so well anyway. I am sure that your waste army will go on following your example.
Enjoy your rest Mrs Green – you deserve it! Hope you enjoy many relaxing, sunny days this summer 🙂
I think brilliant and good on you. Its supposed to be fun not a chore.
You are putting into action something you believe in rather than bowing to pressure to “keep things going as they were” . Lets all learn to be responsible for our own recycling and environmental awareness . I am grateful you helped remind me to continue to do what I believe in.And gave me some good ideas I would never have thought of. I started a Bathroom Basket at work for example, and now am thinking of sneaking the idea into corporate washrooms around Melbourne to raise awareness at that level.A sort of guerilla bathroom basket movement, where we blitz the City one day and suddenly all these baskets appear!! That would get people talking !! Anyone want to join me?
Dont Twitter, facebook, blog or anything. Just take time out to listen to the inner self and rest. Give your family a hug from me. Cheers
I just had to say how you have inspired me in more ways than you know, we aer a long way from Zero Waste, but we are half way there, we are now thinking of other waysto cut our waste, it all comes down to not shoping until you are neady.
I think every time we come on here mrs g, (“the computer or Internet”) we are in fact living a cyber existence as it were!(not real)
It can be very enlightening and rewarding, but at the same time, it lures us into a world, where time seems to go by so very quickly,
I for one have realised recently that the only world that Really matters is the world where your family friends and colleagues resides, and all this electronic wizardry, is of secondary importance,
And we should not be a slave to it, I have always found your blog enlightening and interesting,
As I have said on “waste AM”, I think life is about balance!, After all nature is in total balance with its surroundings, and maybe we have some lessons to learn from her in the end,
mrs g, “have a lovely summer and have a well earned rest, good luck”.
Have a lovely summer- let’s hope we have some good weather to enjoy!
I don’t do twitter or FB either, so I look forward to catching up with you in the autumn.
we will miss u i only found this site last year and have loved it ever since its a shame you won’t be doing it anymore because i don’t like facebook or twitter sorry to lose you penny
I don’t do twitter and resent being forced onto fb when someone contacts me, so following by email will work for me. Have a pleasant summer. Linda
Take the time you need, sometimes something has to give and family always come first!
Bit different I know but the survival talks always say “look after yourself first , as you can’t help anyone else if you have not helped yourself”.
Will look forward to “seeing” you again in the Autumn.
Once more you have showed yourself to be a smart cookie. Many people know they are overextended and never do anything about it. Good for you! Revel in your time off – may all your days be sweet.
thanks everyone for your lovely and thoughtful comments. Interestingly @LJayne: I’ve hardly been on twitter and facebook either! I thought I’d check in tonight and catch up with comments as it’s now been 2 weeks, but I’ve definitely been enjoying my time off 😉