… becoming a climate optimist

Doom and gloom be gone!

We are all about enjoying your eco-activist life. Here are some of our fave ways to stay in an optimistic frame of mind (mostly - nobody can do it perfectly).

🌳 Surround yourself with positive action takers

If you are not surrounded by others taking action, it can feel like one long lonely journey. Whether online or in the flesh, find your tribe of fellow action takers so you can share tips, stories, frustrations, trips to events, and more. It will make you feel so much more hopeful when you see other people you know making changes too.

🌳 Focus on positive news

Not only is the regular news filled with doom and gloom - so much of it is fed to us by people with an agenda - and that’s usually of an agenda of money over the environment. So get your eco information from reliable sources such as Inside Climate News, National Geographic’s Photo Ark and Climate Central. For a dose of positivity - try our fave, HappyEcoNews.

🌳 Record your wins, actions and proud moments

When you only focus on the big goals, it can feel like you are achieving nothing. By breaking your big goals down into small achievable ones you’ll get regular dopamine hits and feel the progress you have made. So instead of ‘whole family go vegan’, start by shopping more purposefully as your first goal, then stepping to 2 family vegetarian meals a day, finally go the whole vegan hog. Record all the wins so you can reflect back on them!

🌳 Connect to your purpose and why

So often when starting with eco-action you can feel like you have to do ALL the things. Then it all becomes overwhelming and takes time you just don’t have so you fall off the wagon. If you can connect with WHY you want to take action first and identify some areas you’d like to have impact, then you can prioritise what you want to do first, and feel the elation that comes with the progress, before extending into other areas.

🌳 Keep learning

The information out there feels like it changes daily, and that can be a frustration in itself (especially when the kids seem to know more than us)! Consider what you would like to know more about - the climate science, biodiversity, innovate solutions, etc - and start to find reliable sources that can be a bank of inspiration for you. Because remember - you don’t have to learn it ALL. Start where you WHY is.

🌳 Acknowledge things wont always go as planned

Failure is progress. Mistakes are inevitable. Life happens.

Seriously though… fear and imposter syndrome hit us all - we can all feel like a fraud at times. But you know what that means? It means that you’re growing, trying new things, and improving. It means you have pushed forward and opened yourself up to something, and you are one step further towards your goal. So KEEP GOING. We’ve got your back.

🌳 Make positivity a habit!

Us humans are naturally quite negative. It is in-baked as a survival mechanism so that we were alert for danger. But unfortunately, it has stuck with us long after the sabre tooth tiger threat has disappeared. BUT the good news is you can rewire your brain through building habits such as a daily gratitude practice and reframing negative thoughts. Catch those negative thoughts and explore the alternative positivity power.

🌳 Have fun!

Most of all - climate change might be a serious topic, but that does NOT mean you cannot have fun in taking action. Turn action into a game, a competition and join in with your community and friends. Even get silly with it, we do!

🌳 Get out of your head

We live in a state of ‘doing’ rather than ‘being’. We have learnt to live in our heads and look for the logical. But in connect back to the body, nature and others you can be much more in the moment and experience every moment. It will also help you to move out of rumination on the past and worry about the future, by bringing you back into the present. The quickest way to do this - one at a time focus on your sense and tune into your surroundings. Feel that pulse slow down and sense the rhythms of your body.