5 long term goals I have

Today I want to share a few goals of mine. I know, most people do this at the beginning or end of a year. Well, in December last year I didn’t feel like it. And the goals I am about to share are not specifically for this year. They are long term goals I want to work towards. I am sharing them today because I have been evaluating my lifestyle the last few months.

Highlight the Wins

Of course it’s also good to dedicate attention in this post to the things that did work out. I always say: focus on the wins. I’ve been eating vegetarian for more than two years and about 6 months vegan now. I haven’t bought new clothes in a long time and I’m not planning to change that (same goes with my diet). I don’t own a driver’s license and so I don’t drive a car. I mostly travel by bike and public transportation (when I do spend time in a car it’s in someone else’s). I’ve also been making big steps towards a zero waste lifestyle. I am proud of the progress I’ve made so far.

Never Done

But, as I said, I want more haha! I have more goals. Before I sum all those things up I want to highlight something. I enjoy this lifestyle. It feels good making these steps and caring about animals, the planet and other people. People often talk about my lifestyle in the form of restriction. ‘You can’t do this and you can’t do that’. But that’s not true. I choose to not do or consume certain things. That’s a big difference in motivation. I feel good and I wish more people would feel this way. Okay, now that that’s clear onto the goals. Right now, the following things are on my list (I will try to describe them as concrete as possible):

1 Minimizing Even More

The process of minimizing has made me very happy and so I want to own even less stuff than I currently do. There are still so many items in my room of which I think: I don’t want this anymore. Little by little I’ve getting rid of these things in a responsible way. Minimalism feels so good! The less the better if you ask me. I feel free now that I’ve stepped out of the treadmill of consumerism. The constant buying, buying, buying. I finally feel a spectator of the treadmill instead of a participant. I want to continue to minimize.

2 Banning Polyester from my Wardrobe

Buying only secondhand clothing? Check. But buying no more polyester is however a step further. Sometimes I find beautiful secondhand pieces of clothing but then they contain polyester. I find it hard to say no at that point. But! That’s something I want to work on. The items which are 100% polyester are fairly easy to avoid (since I know they’ll make me sweat a lot, it feels like wearing a plastic bag if you ask me), but the items which partly contain polyester are way harder. I try to avoid polyester because it is plastic and therefore releases microplastics when you wash them. Read more about that here.

3 A Plastic Free Make-Up Stash

I am currently using up the make-up I already have. This is a very slow proces, I don’t use a lot of make-up right now. I’ve written a post about all the make-up I own which you can read here. But when I finish up something, I want to buy an organic, vegan, cruelty-free but also plastic free alternative. The first three things are quite easy, there are labels for it. But buying plastic free is still a challenge. I recently bought a low waste plastic concealer and so I took the first step. However, I will keep on going until I have a plastic free make-up stash.

4 A Capsule Wardrobe

A Capsule Wardrobe. It has a different meaning for everyone. For me it would mean that I only have items in my closet which I absolutely adore while at the same time it is minimalistic. And I mean really adore. That I don’t experience stress about what I have to wear in the morning because every choice is amazing. When I bought a ‘new’ secondhand jumpsuit the other day I felt amazing in it. And that is how I am supposed to feel every day! No more ugly and boring clothes. Because right now I do have that stress of not knowing what to wear. I guess I just stick with items which are boring and I don’t know why. I have to be done with it but I think this is my toughest goal.

5 Ditch the Plane

This one is very hard for me. I love to travel (like most people). This coming year I have trips planned already. To Crete with our group of friends for example. I am currently figuring out if I can get there by train/bus. But I don’t know if I can do it and the rest of my friends are going by plane. *Sigh*, I wish there were planes on renewable energy. But I am rethinking the whole idea of traveling too. In a plane you don’t see where you’re going, you basically skip the travel. And so traveling in different ways is the real traveling for me. You then see things on your way. I don’t have to give up anything, I just have to do it differently. Right now it’s a struggle but I am sure I’ll realize it someday.

So Much More

Oooooh, and I have even more goals! But most of those are focussed on when I have my own place and don’t live with my parents any longer. Then I can make my own choices about everything. But that will take a few years still I guess. The things I shared today are the challenges I’ll be focussing on from now on. What do you think? And what are your challenges?

Yours sincerely.
Romee