I guess if I go back & think about it, my first major change on the path to greener living was when I decided to quit smoking. When I was 26 I realized that I had been smoking for 13 years - exactly half of my life. This scared the crap out of me. And then a family friend was diagnosed with Stage 4 brain & lung cancer and I realized that I had to stop. I tried everything to stop before - The patch, cold turkey, lozenges, gum, you name it. It never worked. But now, losing a friend coupled with the talk of wanting to have a baby within the next few years, I had the motivation to make the change. So I guess that deciding to have a baby was what changed it all and I didn't really know it! Funny how one decision set off a chain-reaction of events that got me from point A to point B. If you had told me even 5 years ago that I would be a smoke-free, anti-medication, baby-wearing, breastfeeding, experimenting with cloth, stay-at-home-mom, I would have said that you were nuts! But here I am.
Deciding to have a baby changed my life in so many unexpected ways and I am so thankful for that. Once I quit smoking, I felt unstoppable. It was the hardest thing I had done up until that point and if I got through that, I could get through anything. So when my doctor presented me with a list of "do's & don't's" of pregnancy, I happily accepted the challenge. It was then that I started to question things. Why were nitrates bad? What was so toxic about face wash? What do you mean I can't take Advil? And once the questions started that was it. If these things were so bad for my baby, why was I willing to expose myself to them? Once I knew what they were & what the dangers were, I wasn't willing to destroy my body anymore. The thing of it is that once you have the knowledge, there is no going back. Even after pregnancy. At least not for me.
What about you? How did you start your journey to greener living?
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