By Tasha MarieGod
I know I have been gone for quite a while – but back in Feb my classes came in full swing – 13 Credit hours kept me very very busy – But I must admit I didn’t anticipate this semester being quite so busy – but with that said, I am here to post something we had to work on for our Final project in one of my classes – so here goes!
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My personal action plan begins with the core of who I am, in asking God to help me do the things I am choosing to do and to do them to the best of my ability – but to also help me with the things I struggle with and to help me figure out a new plan at crossroads where I may fall short of the original plan.
Even within a personal statement of action I believe that the plan should always be in a state of awareness – in that – we are constantly evolving and changing and moving in the direction of change, especially those of us who really try to embrace this life and flow within its in’s and out’s.
This is also true of this statement; it should be monitored and changed within the confines of the assignment in that, I just cannot follow the rules of man, even if they are set by me.
With all that said – here is what I planned to do with my personal action plan –
1) Upon awaking, I will acknowledge my God and thank Him for our wonderful Planet and all it has to offer. I will ask Him to show me the way in taking better care of this Planet and ask Him to reveal to me His plan for my life, and His Will for taking care of the Earth, and the Trees, and all the substance that is life…..or needed for us to sustain life on our Planet.
2) I will do my very best each day to truly feel connected to all of my choices, and try to remember to think about all that goes into everything that surrounds us. Remembering ALL the resources that were talked about in the beginning of class when we explored the simple BUT complex light bulb and all that goes into making it. I will make a conscious effort to think about the resources that I am using and to evaluate if I really need to use that resource at that time, or if I am simply doing things because I feel that I want to.
NOW – I will list a few things that are a bit more measurable
3) I will talk about all of these things with my family and try to bring them on board to do this with me.
4) I will walk to any place within my town (Mahomet, Il.) that is within reasonable walking distance
5) As a family, we will “Let it mellow” (for at least the next three days)
6) We will not let the water run, in the shower, brushing teeth, doing dishes etc.
7) I will only shower every other day, instead of every day (this is a big deal for me)
8) Do laundry on specific days and hang clothes outside to dry
9) Turn off the air conditioner and open the windows
10) I will combine all shopping for the week and make only ONE trip to Champaign to shop for groceries.
11) I will cook several meals at once to not use the fuels to heat the stove more than needed
12) I will not eat out this week, too much trash is produced by fast food or restaurants
(which is something I forgot to mention about the Green City I built – there were NO Restaurants and fast good places on purpose, that would save TONS of trash every year! )
13) I will not buy convenience foods – too much trash is produced by these
14) I will evaluate how I think I did for the week with a number for each day of our action plan, and then explain my choice for that number. 1=VERY, VERY POOR JOB – 10= EXCELLENT JOB
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Monday – MAY 7TH, 2012 – #5
I feel that Monday was kind of a wishy- washy day, trying to get into the habit of making things flow a little differently. I did walk several places in Mahomet and took the time to reflect on doing things in a more EcO friendly way. I did consult my God in the morning and that certainly helps my mind stay focused on the task at hand. I did take a shower, I did let the water run, I forgot to let it mellow (that one is a difficult habit to get back into) And last but not least, I did go to Arby’s and buy a sandwich – I did however, ask that they not give me a bag, just my sandwich, and they certainly looked at me like I was crazy but they did honor my request. All in all, I know I could do better, I know I could do worse…..not too bad for the first day.
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Tuesday – May 8th, 2012 – # 3
Uh-OH! Yep, I do think I did actually worse on day two, this was a big day for my family – we are at the end of the school year, we are wrapping a lot of things up for Scouting, and we have a lot going on almost every day, I drove places I shouldn’t have – Time is money – money is important – I got behind in doing things for my finals – and did not allow myself the time to walk where I needed to – and so, I drove – I also did buy a few things I should not have – I had to buy the lemonade for our Pack meeting, and I not only paid for packaging (although we do mix it up and take a concentrate) we over paid for it as well, because I ended up buying it in my hometown, @ Mahomet IGA!! Everything is overpriced in this store, everything!! I did my step one and still fell quite short, and so I see I need to add to my list now –
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15) I must add an element of planning to my day to be sure I do not find myself in a pinch doing things the way I always have simply because there is not enough time to do things any other way. Plan how I am going to shop, where, when, with whom – plan what times of day I will do my finals work etc. If a day has some planning to it, you should, in theory be able to incorporate more of the list into the day – allowing yourself more time for the things you are saying is important, such as walking instead of driving.
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Back to Tuesday – I again took a shower, as like I said, I didn’t plan right and had this major event for Scouting! At the Pack meeting, which was held outside, we had a ton of trash that we produced – no fast food per say, but there were certainly plenty of convenience foods. Now, I didn’t buy them – We brought a homemade veggie tray – but – we did still eat some of these foods. We drove to this meeting; it was too far to walk, especially with the amount of stuff we always bring to these meetings. At home we still are all struggling to remember to let it mellow, but we have the don’t let the water run down to a science. The windows were open and the air conditioner off….along with all unneeded lights or appliances.
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Wednesday May 9th, 2012 – #7
This day is going much better, took part in number 1 & 2, really allowing myself to feel connected to the choices I have made within this project. Is this attainable for me? I do think it is – it just takes some time to develop different habits. J
I did my grocery shopping in town, mapped out my route so it was the best route to go – hitting the stores in the same area together. I had to take my grandma shopping – she doesn’t drive, never has – which is good – I do not think her blood pressure could handle it anyway –
When I take grandma to the store, sometimes I get groceries sometimes I do not – this time I did do the shopping I needed to do….I was already going and this would be fulfilling one of my changes – grandma and I shopped, we did not go out to eat. I am doing pretty well for me with this even though I did grab a sandwich on Monday.
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I will post about Thursday after while, I have to go make dinner for my family – I spent much of this day messing around with HTML and PHP Scripts trying to figure out my password for this BLOG!! Ended up having to call GODADDY and get “Shane” involved! Thank you Shane for helping get access to my weblog and for helping me correct the files I had messed up!! I appreciate it more than you know!!!!!
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OH yeah and ONE MORE THING I did to remind myself to think about all of my choices……I put a big blue R on my left hand to be in constant thought of it. 🙂
Until next time – I wish for you Success!
