Tag Archives: eco-anxiety

Self-care, Sustainable Living ideas

How to Overcome Barriers to Sustainable Living

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As we are learning more and more about the effects humans are having on climate change, the number of individuals opting to live sustainably is steadily growing. Making conscious changes to your lifestyle is key. However, in a world where we are reliant on the things that are bad for the environment and sustainable alternatives aren’t always readily available, it’s not as easy as it should be. These barriers can be difficult to overcome.

I think back about when I started sustainable living and tried making so many changes in one go. I ended up becoming overwhelmed and I did everything badly – it starts with changing habits. After failing miserably, I starting again but this time I tackled one habit at a time.

Old Habits

This was the biggest barrier for me to overcome. It starts with habits. Have you ever tried to give up something you’ve been doing for a long time? Smoking? Drinking? It’s like that. You will do things automatically because that’s how you’ve done it and that’s how your brain and learnt that habit. The great thing is habits can be broken and new ones learnt.

Apparently, it takes between 20 – 30 days to break a habit and starting with one thing is key (don’t make my mistake!). Start with something small like switching your plastic razor to a safety razor. I’ve written blogs about using safety razors and they’re my favourite place to start. Once you get used to the safety razor, make another change.

Once you decide to want to start doing something different and you worry that you may forget. A handy tip is to write it down somewhere just to remind yourself, before you know it, you won’t need the reminder.

Row of barriers on empty track - overcome barriers
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/row-of-barriers-on-empty-track-3763878/

Cost

I’m not going to pretend this isn’t an issue for many people – it’s a genuine barrier. This is one of the biggest challenges I found to sustainable living and can really take a chunk out of your budget.

My advice is to speak to friends and family and see what they do. Have a look at social media for sustainable living ideas. There are little brands as well as the big brands who can offer great products. Second-hand shops are a great habit to create as these clothing items have already been made and you can find some real gems.

A few more examples are swapping from menstrual pads and tampons to menstrual cup/period pants or swapping to a safety razor. Just these eco swaps can help you save money in the long run.

Availability

This is another barrier that really gets to me and it’s hard to overcome. Not all shops offer a decent range of sustainable products. Some don’t offer any at all, so it’s understandable that people will buy from the options available to them. This is where shops need to do better.

Plastic is low cost and therefore, cheaper and they’re convenient but single-use plastic is the problem. Once you’re done with your roll-on deodorant, you’ll throw the who thing away (or recycle it, if you can) and get another one.

Do what you can – if you regularly get a takeaway coffee, use a reusable cup. keep a plastic bag folded in your bag so you don’t need to buy another one, walk (if you can) rather than taking your car.

It’s OK to be different

If anything, I embrace being different but I appreciate that isn’t the case for everyone else. When you’re with a group of friends, it’s OK to refuse a straw, if you’re at someone’s house and you need to throw something away, it’s OK to ask where the recycling bin is. It takes time to overcome this barrier.

I posted this on my Instagram page a while back and it made me chuckle

I wear odd socks because when there’s a hole in one sock, sadly, both pairs tend to be thrown away and I feel that’s a real waste, It’s a great conversation starter too!

Where to start

This was where I fell down at the start. I would highly suggest trying to make one change at a time and start with something small.

What got me started was lemons! I wanted to buy a single lemon but the only option available to me to me was a plastic net bag of about 4/5 lemons, which was way more than I needed. So I starting looking at what fruit and veg I could buy loose.

People are starting to think about sustainable living so some of your friends may have already started – swap ideas!

Something I created so people don’t make the same mistake I did was the 30-Day Eco Swap Challenge – I created this challenge for anyone who wants to adopt sustainable living practices for their home and families without stress, overwhelm or judgement.

Over 30 days, there are 30 different ways to become eco-friendly and live more sustainably. There will be some things you may not have even thought about and one that is a bit of a wildcard!


The path to sustainable living isn’t smooth but it is rewarding and there’s no such thing is a ‘perfect environmentalist’. It’s a myth. Sustainable living looks different for everyone.

Something I always say in my social media is – Start small, Do what you can, build from there!

These are some ideas that work for me but may not work for everyone. Here are my terms & conditions for further reading

Sustainable Living ideas

Explaining Climate Change to Children

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As a parent, I want my child to have a care-free childhood but also teach her about the dangers that can be found in the world without scaring her.

She’s 7 and she learnt about Stranger Danger quite early on in her school life; she knows what to look out for and we talked out it quite a bit. Thankfully, it didn’t appear to scare her and she seemed to be happy being armed with this information.

But there are other dangers, one of which is climate change.

Let’s be honest, having children doesn’t come with a manual. I, for one, try to learn from other parents and think about what I say and how I act because they are sponges when they are young. We’re all just trying our best and hope we don’t screw them up!

As an eco-blogger (and an imperfect environmentalist), I’m well aware of how the planet is changing and studying towards a degree in Environmental Science has given me an insight into the science of climate change and it’s contributing factors; looking at articles, questioning sources and the ability to determine whether the author of the article has an agenda. Some of it is a little scary, even for me.

So how do I explain climate change to my child? After all, her generation are going to inherit the planet from us.

Climate change refers to the changes in temperatures and weather patterns around our planet and one of the main causes of this is human activity and this what we talk about; human activity.

I talk to her about the smaller stuff like litter-picking and reducing plastic. We go litter-picking and she knows about turning the lights off when they aren’t needed. She enjoys watching Blue Peter who talk about climate activism in a really thoughtful and sensitive way. She’s even got a green Blue Peter badge (something I told everyone who would listen!).

A while back, she heard someone said that they hated the rain – it wasn’t even heavy rain. She later said to me “the rain helps the environment, it’s just nature doing its thing”. I have to say, that really made me smile because that’s exactly what it’s doing.

The rain helps the environment, it’s just nature doing it’s thing

When I talk to her about what’s happening to the environment, I tell her bits of what’s going on but I offer solutions too.

We’ve taught her about recycling and she knows which bin to use for an item and why recycling is important, turning off the tap when she’s not using the water and the issues of wasting it, she has no problem wearing second-hand clothing, and we go litter-picking too.

Recently, the final episode of Frozen Planet II aired on the BBC and I noticed quite a few posts on Twitter where people thought it was terrifying and questioned whether it’s something young children should be watching. Some said kids should know about it and others thought it’s best to shield them from it. I haven’t let my daughter watch it, as a parent, we should do what we think is best for our own children.

I recently wrote a post about coping with eco-anxiety and I do adopt some of these practices when talking to her about the environment.

I think the key is helping them to find solutions and being able to action them. Even as adults we can sometimes feel quite powerless but, in my opinion, doing something is always better than not doing anything at all.

Ultimately, I want to be able to look her in the eye and tell her that I tried my best with what I had.

These are some ideas that work for me but may not work for everyone. Here are my terms & conditions for further reading

Self-care

How to cope with eco-anxiety?

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If you worry about climate change and the impact humans are having on the environment to the point where you may not be able to stop thinking about it, there’s probably a chance you suffer from a level of eco-anxiety.

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Eco-anxiety affects people in different ways; some people can be a little anxious whereas others may feel more anxious. There is no right or wrong. Given the environmental challenges we are facing putting our long-term security at risk, it’s no surprise that eco-anxiety is on the rise and I’m glad people are more open to talking about it.

Even as an environmentalist, I have to keep my eco-anxiety in check – I’m not ashamed to say I find it overwhelming at times too. However, I have found some ways that helps me keep my eco-anxiety in check.

My tips to cope with eco-anxiety

1. Actions matter

It’s easy to sometimes feel powerless, there’s only so much an individual can control. Something I always say is ‘start small, do what you can, build from there‘. Our actions do matter and make a difference, regardless of how big or small. Never forget that!

2. Find like-minded individuals

It’s important to find other people who share the same passion for the environment and who want to do better. One thing I realised quite early on is that you can learn so much from each other and sharing this knowledge can only be a good thing. Plus, you will be part of a team that may want to set up litter-picks or a local eco group.

3. Happy Eco News

This is something that I started early on. There is so much negative news about climate change so any positive news is largely ignored. There are good things happening in the world when it comes to the environment which is why I send out a fortnightly newsletter filled with happy eco news. I also sent it on Mondays – start the week on a good note! If you would like to receive happy eco news – sign up here and grab a freebie download too.

4. Don’t argue with deniers

This took me a while to get to grips with but I’m much better at it than I was previously. You will always come across deniers. It’s inevitable. But I’m not referring to people who are aware of climate change and would prefer not to talk about it (out of sight, out of mind), I’m referring to people who will argue with you about how climate change is a hoax and want to argue their ‘reasons’ as to why it’s a hoax or not as bad as it’s being reported. DO NOT ENGAGE. After having a number of heated discussions with climate change deniers, I found that I was left frustrated and exhausted from the encounter and the only person affected from this is me. Nothing you can say will make a difference, so don’t bother.

For the little ones

If you have little ones, I’ve come across this gratitude journal for children. It’s so important for children to notice the good about their day rather than just the bad. My little one has a gratitude journal and now I don’t have to even remind her to fill it in, she enjoys doing it on her own.

Above all, it’s about protecting your mental health and only you can do that. It’s OK to protect your mental health.

These are some ideas that work for me but may not work for everyone. Here are my terms & conditions for further reading