My reflection on our project and class premier.
Posts tagged "ryan"
Better late than never
Two weeks from tomorrow I will be walk across the stage at the Breslin Center and become a graduate of Michigan State University. To think about that is just crazy to me. Graduation is looming around the corner and lately I have found myself overwhelmed and frustrated. In a time where I want to be living it up with those around me, I am overwhelmed with the work, school and the questions that fill my mind of what will I do when I graduate. And sitting here typing this blog reminded me how I need to not worry about all of this and live in the moment and take it for what it is and what it has to offer. That is what I did when I finally embraced this project and our challenges. Being fearless and taking the moments of my life for what they are is what made me able to make changes. As I reflect on the last 24 hoursish I realize that I did just that today. I had a great time yesterday when Matt, Josh, Jac and myself helped plant mushrooms, and today during Josh’s interview, and tonight as Josh’s house was filled with food and people for the community dinner. In those moments I realize the only thing I was worried about was having fun and enjoying my time with the people around me; and that’s the reason I haven’t failed and the reason I continue to change my life for the better.
As we have moved through March, we have gotten a lot of questions asking if Thrive with Less is over. It is not. We have used March as the month to see what worked for us in February and apply it to our everyday lives. For me this has still been a challenge.
What I have done since February:
Clothes. I have gone through all my clothes and I have set aside about 20 articles of clothing that I will be donating. Before I donate my clothes, I will go through all my clothes one more time and pick more to donate.
Transportation. I have continued to ride by bike to any location within 2 miles of my house, with exception to one time when I drove.
Shelter. This is a challenge I haven’t really progressed with. I have a pretty small place as it is and I haven’t given up anymore space since February.
Food. Since the beginning of March, I have gone out to eat for breakfast, lunch and to the bars, but every single time it has been with friends. I have used going out as a way to reconnect people I care about and not just to stop and get something “good” to eat.
Community. I have been on facebook more and am no longer limiting myself to two hours a week, but I have noticed that my time on facebook has decreased from what it was before we started this project.
Passions. This is one I have been struggling with lately. Once again I have found myself pretty busy and instead of taking time for myself, I am cutting that time out of my life for other things. I didn’t fully realize it until I went and shot some photography with my friend the other day. This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while. I shoot a lot of video but have never got to shoot photography with a nice camera. Talking with her helped my realize where I was and what I needed to do to get back on track.
As I’ve said, this has still been a challenge to me. But I have had a lot of support, from the group as well as other people who have talked to me or messaged me about the project, which has really helped me keep trying to change for better.
Here’s some stuff I shot with my friend Carolyn
Ryan’s second video blog, and he’s reaching some conflict. Where do we draw the line when minimalism starts to inhibit our pursuit of passions?
2 weeks in
So we are officially 2 weeks into our February challenges and for me that is exactly what it has been. A challenge. Similar to what I said last week I have been struggling with these challenges. For me the hardest thing has been not being able to fully embrace these challenges.
Trying to make these changes in my life has taken me out of my comfort zone because its something new and something I’m not used to. These first two weeks I have been extremely busy and stressed with work and school, and without my comfort zone to fall back on, it has added to the stress. This has made it difficult for me to fully embrace the challenges which is hard because it makes me feel like I am not succeeding. I am hoping that the next few weeks things start to slow down so I can really put forth a stronger in effort in making a change.
Even though I have been struggling a little bit, I have been able to take a little time to live out my passions, which so far I have found is spending time with people I love and care about. My mom came and visited me on Friday and it was great to see her and we had an awesome day together. I have taken time to catch up with and spend time with people I haven’t seen in a while. I have had some pretty cool shoots lately and we have produced some pretty cool shows and projects. I have also been able to play basketball which I am very passionate about, but I have found a few things I’m not passionate about…Intramural Refs is one of those things.
Looking ahead I am excited for us to begin our outreach in an effort to make an impact in the community. But until then, I am glad I still have some time to concentrate on myself and these challenges to try make changes in my life. Its been great to see that other people have started to challenge themselves and I know we all hope that more people start to do the same and share their experiences with everyone.
My first Vlog!
Time for Change
Growing up I got so caught up in wanting the “newest” and “coolest” things that my life began to fill up with material possessions and clutter and that made me lose sight of what was truly important to me. When I started working on this project I was able to take a step back and reevaluate my life. In doing so I have realized that I need to change. I need to change so I can better my life. I need to rediscover what is important to me and get rid of all the excess in my life. But as easy as it is for me to sit here and say what I need to do, it is going to be a lot harder to accomplish it.
Starting today, me and 5 others (Josh, Colin, Matt, Mo and Jaclyn) will start to make changes in our lives. For the month of February we have all accepted the challenge to begin changing our lives for the better and finding what is truly important to each one of us…and I’m not going to lie, I’m a little nervous. I’m nervous because for the first time in my life I am going to cut myself off from things that I have had the luxury of always having. I will have A LOT less clothes to wear, I will have less living space in my house, I will be driving less and walking/biking more, I will not be eating out and I will be cutting out most of the social media in my life. In doing all of this I will set aside a certain amount of time to live out my passions as well as reconnecting with the things and people who are important in my life. I am finally standing up to the ideology of our culture that more is better, but better is never enough. I am extremely excited to be doing this and can’t wait to keep you guys up to date on my progress. Hopefully what we are doing can be inspiration to you all and can give you the confidence take a risk and join us in finding a more fulfilling lifestyle.
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world” – Mohandas Gandhi
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