Don't Grow Up-It's a Trap

Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast

Episode 16

Don’t Grow Up, It’s a Trap

Welcome back everyone to the Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast. This is your host Patrick and this is Episode #16 titled Don’t Grow Up It’s a Trap. 

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you had stayed a child? What would it be like if you could go back to having no responsibility, no debt, no crabby boss to deal with, and life was just calm and pleasant all the time. Well, I guess unfortunately you have to grow up whether you want to or not. But for many, growing up becomes a trap. What is that all about and what does all this have to do with sustainability? 

I remember when I was a kid I would watch my parents sometimes in awe at some of the things they did. I thought it was so cool that they got to do whatever they wanted to do, whenever they wanted to do it. I could not wait to grow up and be an adult. All that freedom and all those possibilities. 

But you know there are several things as children that we do not realize nor appreciate.  First of all is that we have lots of things that are done for us. Secondly, we have emotional liberty and few if any responsibility. If there is a problem, someone else fixes it for us and we likely have nothing to worry about. Furthermore, we do not realize that we have only seen a small part of the world. We have a very narrow field of view and there is so much that we do not know. In fact, as children, we don’t even know what we don’t know. 

But then when you do grow up, things are quite different. 

-First of all, we have to take care of ourselves. We have to pay attention to eating right and getting regular exercise. 

-And we have to work for a living. 

-We of course have bills to pay

-We have a house to take care of

-Then there are life’s unexpected problems that always seem to crop up. 

-And of course taxes to pay, unfair bosses to deal with, perhaps a job that we don’t like

-And if you are like the average American, you have more debt hanging over your head than you can easily manage. 

-Good bye vacation time. You have to say good bye to all that free time you had as a child. All that time to do whatever you wanted. 

All of these things many times have us wishing we could turn back the clock, we wish we could have stayed a child, we should have never grown up because it turns into a trap. 

Now there is no doubt that many people feel this way because as adults many people feel  trapped in their job, trapped because of money problems and a high debt load. But, there is also another side to this story when it comes to growing up. 

-As you grow up, you mind also grows. You expand your way of thinking. You develop you own opinions, beliefs, and values. 

-Hopefully you become much more open minded about life and see that there are many more possibilities than restrictions. 

-You also begin to see people for who and what they really are. Consequently, you will have some close friends, some acquaintances, and some people that you keep at a distance. 

-And mosts importantly, you start to care less about what other people think of you. You develop a stronger sense of self esteem and a greater understanding of what really makes you happy. 

Now obviously there is a huge contrast between being a child and being an adult, as it should be. But, let’s look at this from a much different perspective.

If you look at American culture, in many ways we behave as children. We have lots of things done for us. We live in a society of convenience. If something goes wrong, someone else takes care of it for us or we simply pay someone to take care of it for us. And on top of that, we are taught by example that we truly do not have to be responsible for anything that we do much less our personal choices. We just simply place the blame on someone else right?  And in many respects, we have a very narrow and limited view of the world. 

Instead what we need to do is to stop acting like children, expand our minds, and see the world as being full of numerous opportunities.  And some of the most important opportunities we have at hand is to start building a sustainable future. And there is one simple thing we can all do that will produce the most remarkable result. 

But how can we do that? 

You know, I am going to admit something about my own life that I am truly ashamed of. I grew up in an environment where prejudice and racism was common place. White parents taught their children to hate blacks. Black parents taught their children to hate whites. Society was strongly segregated. I grew up thinking that was just the way the world was because I had never known anything different. 

I am happy to say that I was very young when I relocated to a different part of the county. I started traveling, went back to school and learned the value of being much more open minded. I grew up and formed my own opinions and values based on life experiences instead of the narrow view of the world that I was taught as a child and what I experience as an adolescent.  Okay there is a point to my sharing that. 

But you see, the greatest opportunity we have looks us in the face everyday. You want to know what this is?  

Children and those belonging to the generation behind you are the future of our planet. These are the people that will be our future leaders, decision-makers, consumers, and educators of our world. Reaching out and teaching children or even a younger generation all about sustainability is in fact one of the best things you can do.

Strive to be an example of how the practices and principles of sustainability can and should be a part of our everyday life. In fact, it should be so common place that they grow up thinking that is just the way the world is because they have never known anything different.

By doing so, you instill practices that will benefits their lives, as well as ours. Teaching them about sustainability shows them the value of taking responsibility for their actions, as well as planning for the future, and maintaining a healthier planet. Doing so will introduce a constant reminder to think carefully about how their actions affect the surrounding world. 

But, there are other benefits to teaching younger people about sustainability. For example:

Improved character development: When they learn to repair things instead of throwing things away all the time, they learn how to be thrifty. When they are taught to recycle items instead of littering, they develop a sense of responsibility for their community. 

Children also learn how to develop good habits: When taught about sustainability at an early age, they tend to develop sustainable habits that last a life time. Again, when children grow up eating left overs instead of wasting food, when they are taught composing, recycling, and see people riding a bicycle instead of driving, they think this is a normal part of life. Consequently, once they are older, good environmental habits are already instilled  and they do not have to make any significants changes in their lives in order to be planet friendly.

Children learn the value of being a conscious consumer: When children are shown to look for “organic” or “fair trade” labels, they start learning that food just does not magically appear on the shelves at the supermarket. Instead they learn that products are produced by people and processes that affect the environment. 

And let’s not forget the power of peer pressure: You should never underestimate the power of younger people to influence others. When other people start to observe that someone is doing something differently, it is very possible to influence their behavior. When a young person, especially a child, explains why they use real silverware instead of plastic throw away knives and forks, or they explain why they do not eat meat on Mondays, then other people may start to follow suit and change their habits as well. 

There are several ways that you can be an example:

Start composting: By using compost as a natural fertilizer, you flowers, garden, and lawn will benefit without using chemicals that are harmful to the environment. 

Use environmentally friendly products: make your own cleaning products, utilize reusable grocery bags, perhaps even make your own soap and shampoo

Reduce your energy consumption: Turn off lights, speakers, unplug cell phones and small appliances when not in use. Take things a step further and install solar panels and start generating some of your own electricity. 

Take silverware and reusable plates to use at work: This is an easy way to demonstrate sustainability. Because I do contract work for several hospitals, I am often in at least two different locations a week. Every single hospital I go to has paper plates and plastic dinnerware in the break room for the staff.  When I happen to attend a staff meeting, every single person uses disposable items and even for a small staff, they generate two kitchen size garbage bags full of trash just for one meeting. Instead of doing that, I purchased some plates and silverware that are typically used for camping and I keep these in my lunch box all the time when I travel. 

There are likely a lot of people these days that wish they could go back to their younger years. Perhaps this is because they are over loaded with responsibility, or they dislike their present employment, or perhaps they are stuck because of making some poor financial choices.  

But in so many ways because of our culture we are truly taught that we do not have to take full responsibility for our choices.  But you know instead of thinking of adult life as a trap, what we need to do is seize the fantastic opportunity that we have to teach other people, and especially younger people, all about sustainability. Instead of being depressed about our adult life, we should embrace the opportunity we have to build a better future that is focused on sustainability. 

From one of my previous episodes, do you remember the single underlying principle of sustainability? That principle is that sustainability comes down to the kind of future we are leaving the next generation. And the best way to leave something for the next generation is to lead by example and teach others, especially children, about the principles of sustainability. There is no better way for us to build a better future than to leave behind a living legacy of sustainability. 

Your challenge for this coming week is to simply pick one person that is younger than yourself and teach them that growing up is a trap. Well okay, not really. So, choose one thing or one way in which you can teach someone else about sustainability and do that by example. And it can be as simple as saying “Hey, you know, you can actually recycle that.” 

In closing folks, I would like to ask that if you have enjoyed my podcast episodes, then please take the time to leave me with a review. I would greatly appreciate your time and effort. Also, please take the time to subscribe to the adventures in sustainable living podcast as well as my blog off grid living news.  

That is all for now folks. Until next week, this is your host Patrick signing off.  Remember, always live sustainably because this is how we build a better future.