It’s been a while since our last post on Tinycaravan. The truth is, we needed a mental break. For a few months, we’ve been feeling less than optimistic about the environmental space. Even with all the positive talks we’ve had with friends, there are days when we felt powerless to change. Maybe even hopeless? When we see trash littered on hiking trails. When we read about Scott Pruitt or Andrew Wheeler advocating for policies to repeal laws which aim to protect the environment. Or when we hear news about visitors who visited Joshua Tree National Park and destroyed the wild space. Yeah. On those days it’s hard to look at the world and be optimistic about the future of the environment.

And when the future looks so grim, we wondered, what can we do?

We had many conversations on this topic and spent a good amount of time expressing our feelings of hopelessness and frustrations. Yet, after sitting and sulking about the negative news around us, we realized it was not the most productive (or healthy) way to move forward or change the circumstances.

Instead, we started to talk about environmental optimism and began to –

Change Our Perspectives. On a single day, there will be bad news in the world, but there is also good news too. Rather than let the bad news continue to fill our sense of hopelessness, we needed to change how we responded to it. We talked a lot about using the “bad” news as motivation to continue to take action, to be more vocal, and to share how we can work together for the betterment of the planet. There’s always the potential to do more, but we’re trying to understand that sometimes it’s okay to just do what you can and go from there. In the grand scheme, we still believe that our individual impact matters.

If you’re interested, we wrote an article on ways to stay environmentally and politically active.

Surround Ourselves With Those Who Do Care. It’s very important to surround ourselves with those who are consciously aware. Recently, we received a message from a dear friend who was excited to talk about how she got her office to be more green by reducing single-use plastics in the office kitchen. Another friend messaged us and said he started to carry reusable utensils with him inspired by our post, Dining Tip: Bring Your Own Reusable Utensils. It’s motivating and up lifting. We’re trying to feed off all this positive and proactive energy as much as we can.

If that made you happy too, read more inspiring stories from our friends in our Zero Hour Story series.

Stay Inform About the Good News Too. As citizens of the world, we feel that it is our responsibility to stay up-to-date with the latest news around us. But again, sometimes the news can be dangerously negative. We think it’s just as important to fill our minds with other stories, particularly those that engage us and you know, gives us hope. Influencers like Kaméa Chayne from Green Dreamer podcast, Sara Tso from Matchbox Kitchen, Celia from Litterless, Chris Burkard, and Levi “Save the World” Hildebrand create a positive space that helps remind us of just that.

We hope Tinycaravan serves that purpose for you, too.

Take a Step Back to Breathe. And of course, self-care. We cannot stress how important our mental well-being is. The things that are happening in the world can be overwhelming – we’re human, we’re not perfect, and we can only take so much. Give yourself time to take a step back and focus on your mental and physical health. And breathe. That’s important too.

Have you been feeling the same way? What do you do to stay optimistic about the future of the environment?

P.S. Thank you to all those who have continued to support and follow us through it all. We love you and appreciate you. Take care, until next time ~

Cheers,
Jennifer and Vivian