2011 was an eye-opener for me. I’ve been through a lot this year – both good and bad. What I can hope that I gained was some improved insight and perspective. My most painful moment was losing my father, and this has been made worse by some of the fallout that happened after (I’ll save details for another post). My most inspired moments have all involved watching my son grow another year – a happy, smart, and very sweet boy who fills me with pride every day.

I have also made some more conscious decisions about how to live my life in light of the best and worst of the year. I realize that I do many things counter to my own values and declared priorities.  Here are a list of things that I am changing and what inspired me to do them.

• Buy local. Much of my inspiration has come from living in Durham, where the entrepreneur is a force to be reckoned with and where the local shops are clearly superior to the big chains. This is in part what inspired me to launch Sway | digital marketing. Some things do cost a bit more this way, but there is a price you pay by not making that investment in your own community. I’ve also been inspired by Occupy Wall Street, a movement not against capitalism but against a system run amok that gives the power to corporations at the expense of the people our systems were intended to protect. Buying local really can make a difference here. My bank is a smaller bank and not involved in the messy credit default swaps that brought an economy to its knees. Oh, and they also serve cookies in the lobby daily.
• Eat better. I have been impacted by watching the film Forks Over Knives. If you haven’t seen it, you should. It offers compelling evidence that our diet is killing us. Pair that with Food, Inc., and you begin to see how large corporations influence our unhealthy lifestyles and put generations at terrible risk. The only way to fight back is to stop eating that way, buying fresh, local ingredients that support small farms and make you less susceptible to disease. Which brings me to my next big change.
• Vote with my wallet. Voting for what is important to me doesn’t just happen at a polling place. Every time I spend money on something, I’m voting for it. I have previously made decisions never to shop at Best Buy or Walmart because I didn’t enjoy the experience. Now, I also choose not to patronize stores that make political donations to causes I don’t believe in and that generally support an unhealthy consumerism that endangers its customers (I’m looking at you, McDonald’s, but not only you). A lot of the purchases I have made in the past few years has been the result of giving up, really. How can you beat Walmart? How can you stop retail and fast food juggernauts from rolling over into every part of your life? Well, you can. And I am making conscious decisions to do that.

So, here I am bidding a farewell to 2011 and everything that it brought with it – except for the lessons learned.

image: sameoldshitblog

Tags: buy local, eat local, ows | Category Life in General