In this episode, I talk with a truly wonderful woman who goes by the alter ego of the Crap Activist.
She remains anonymous, so I can’t reveal her true identity, but she is a Mum of two teenagers, and she and her family made an awesome resolution for this year, to make one change for the better every day.
She was feeling hopeless about the future and what it would hold for her children, so rather than falling down a spiral of paralysing negativity and overwhelm, she decided she was going to try to do something about it, in whatever ways she could.
She set up @thecrapactivist account on Instagram to help her keep this commitment, and as well as doing this, the account has helped inspire others and offer her the opportunity to learn from others along the way, creating a really positive, supportive environment.
Why she set up the account and set the awesome resolution
Their family consists of her, her husband and two daughters, one just off 17 and one 13. They had been coasting in life… sort of doing their bit but had this awful impending sense of doom. They were sort of telling themselves they were doing their bit, but everything in the world was seeming gloomy and desperate. She was feeling impotent, not really knowing what she could do to help.
She felt like they’d been kidding themselves a bit – they'd try to remember to take reusable bags when shopping, or try to take a reusable bottle, but if they forgot, it was fine because they’d just buy the disposable alternative and not think much more about it.
Was feeling more and more gloomy about the state of world affairs (everythingly) as the year was coming to an end, even before “the Sh*t hit the fan this year!”
How the resolution came about
They were on a road trip during the Christmas break, listening to Adam Buxton’s podcast, where he was talking with Jo Cornish about the 70s/80s/ TV program ‘Tomorrow's World’ which painted an exciting prospect of the future – it made you excited about the future, that the future was an amazing place filled with good stuff.
Reflecting on this, she and her husband had a conversation about how sad it is the way things have changed, and there’s much less hope and excitement for the future. All this negativity filling our lives – the climate crisis, fast fashion, over-consumption, awful injustices etc. and she thought how terrible it is that kids are growing up against this backdrop.
“It really rattled me… I couldn’t stop thinking about it”
New Year was coming up, and she quite likes the idea of a fresh start around New Year – the curious midnight transition into emerging as a ‘new me’. She admits:
“I get suckered into that every year, but this year felt different”
So, that’s when the resolution emerged, to do something better each day.
Reason for Instagram – not because she’s a mega social media fan, but as a device to hold herself accountable. And for this reason, it worked brilliantly and she also found many supportive people she’s learned a lot from along the way too.
Jumping straight in with Veganuary
Not too much of a huge step – still challenging, but as they were mostly vegetarian prior to this, it was easier than maybe if they had been very carnivorous in their diet.
It's so great that there’s much more support for going vegan now. The whole family got on board!!
“They’re just brilliant, my gang”
The whole family have really embraced this challenge.
She spoke to her oldest daughter about her thoughts when she first made this resolution – her daughter admitted that in the early weeks, she did have some concerns (earth mother visions). She thought they may turn into a hippie household, and feared the social ramifications, but this wasn't voiced at the time and any fears of this quickly disappeared.
They were all on board together and her daughters have actually become much more involved in activism in their own ways.
This gave her great comfort and hope for the future.
“I have tremendous faith and hope in kids”
Her husband has been involved as well (quietly supportive).
She really feels it has brought them all together as a family which is so lovely.
A lot of time for reflection – everything came to such a standstill so quickly, you start to reevaluate your choices/habits.
It’s amazing how your actions can influence those around you, even in quite a gentle way. RIPPLE EFFECT!! I really believe this can have a huge impact.
e.g. her eldest daughter has had a positive impact on her friends surrounding fast fashion awareness, choosing sustainable brands instead, sharing this with her friends. Leading by example.
Willing to questions systems in place rather than falling into the mindset of “this is how things have always been”. Why are things this way?!?
Down to a household level – so much of this year for them has been about making small tweaks to their habits. Questioning why they are doing things, and how they could change that habit to form a better one.
At the heart of it all – changing these habits that get really embedded that you then need to challenge and question.
You can become a slave to your routine and habits. When you’ve always done something it can be tricky to change it, but it starts with questioning.
Now what can become the habit is the questioning, so really, only one habit has to change, and that’s to start questioning why you are doing the things you do and whether they need to change!
Looking back on the earlier changes they made
These changes have become such a norm now. Some of them were really daft, little things that now actually embarrass her a little bit when looking back on them e.g. they used to buy a bag of ice basically every week, in plastic.
It’s only once she stopped and thought “hang on, why are we doing this? Why are we not making ice? It’s just insane”.
Another example – buying cucumber in plastic, no one in the house really liked cucumber anyway! Simple change, stop buying cucumber!
As The Year Has Gone On, They’ve Set More Difficult Challenges
As a family, they’re quite good at failing – SO IMPORTANT – you learn so much from failure, and you become less fearful of taking risks and trying new things.
They have such a great Mantra:
“we feel good about what we do, and not bad about what we don’t”
Can be so easy to dwell on the things we haven’t changed yet, and beat ourselves up about it, but actually, we need to recognise and celebrate the positive changes we have made!!
Things they haven’t tackled yet are on their radar, and they will get to it.
They can also look back and see how far they have come since January! This can be a great source of motivation and bring a sense of pride in recognising all they’ve achieved just from setting that one resolution at the beginning of the year and sticking with it!
She would definitely encourage others to keep a note of changes they make because when you have days you feel overwhelmed, impotent and like you’re not doing enough, you can remind yourself of how far you’ve come and feel good about what you are doing!!
Common trap we can fall into when trying to be more sustainable:
BUYING ‘SUSTAINABLE’ ITEMS YOU JUST DON’T NEED.
She bought stuff because she wanted the nice, pretty thing that will demonstrate she’s made a change, but actually, the plastic alternative she already had was still functioning and adequate for the time being.
Green-washing within the sustainability movement – consumerism shifted in a different direction. Still buying when not really needed because you’re being convinced to buy and tricked into thinking its needed.
Mistakes made in enthusiasm to want to make positive changes, but really you should only buy when you really need to. Trying to make use of what you have, re-purpose things to give them a new use etc.
Lots of Making, some of which not so successful:
Rosehip syrup that did not live up to expectations – incredibly arduous process, with an end product that arguably was not worth the work… but they gained a wonderful day spent together as a family, which they value greatly.
Homemade dog biscuits – their dog Ida, is a classic lab in that she eats almost everything (except lettuce, popcorn, and these dog biscuits her daughter made especially for Ida). Since the initial batch, more have been made, and have gone down a treat with Ida, thankfully!
BUYERACHY – hierarchy of buying needs. They keep it on their fridge, and it’s really helped them question whether they need to buy something when they thought they did, and 9 times out of 10, they haven’t needed to buy what they thought they did!
Spending Offsets
Buying food/drink more ethically can be more expensive with certain things, however they have found that due to saving money elsewhere (not buying things unnecessarily, making things last, having reusable items rather than constantly buying disposable ones), they have not spend more money, and she genuinely believes they’ve saved hundreds of pounds this year through the changes they have made
Big money saver – meal planning!!! Reduces food waste as well as saving money.
She also feels like things are changing for the better, for example, she is noticing more plastic free options in the shops and she’s very grateful for this. She takes great comfort in that.
“I think that the world is a really amazing place, and I think there are really brilliant people in the world doing really brilliant things, and if people aren’t feeling that, they just need to go and find these brilliant people, they are there”
She also explains how as a parent, she’s very inclined to feel this way, as she wants her daughters to feel positive about the world that they are going into.
Reviews
The Crap Activist account also reviews a lot of their trials (and fails), which I think is so helpful for other people who may not have the time, or be willing to risk trying these things without knowing whether they may work, so I think it’s great she does this, and shares so openly about their experiences.
How do you find a little bit of Lagom?
Running – (she’s not sure it ‘technically’ qualifies as running, as she states it’s very slow) but she tells herself it’s running and that’s what matters! She runs every other day without fail.
“I don’t run very far, I never try to go further, I never try and go faster, but I have this half an hour window where I go and run and I process, I mull things over, I create order in my head, and it’s quite sacred actually”
Running for her is what keeps her in a good head space and that is how the crap activist (only by her definition) finds her little bit of Lagom 😊
Her advice to anyone feeling the way she felt before setting her resolution would be to just start something. Do something because as soon as you do just one thing , “you’ll feel absolutely pumped and you’ll feel ready to take on the world”
What wonderful messages and sources of inspiration to take away. It was an absolute joy speaking with The Crap Activist, and I hope you enjoyed this episode too.
If you want to follow what she's getting up to, you can find her on Instagram @thecrapactivist
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I hope you are well wherever you are, and will speak to you again soon!