I wake up, I shower, I go to the gym, I shower, I get ready for bed, I shower. It’s entirely too much and it was recently brought to my attention.

My girlfriend has always been the one to know what state our world is in. She wants to save it in any way she can.

I shower a lot, wasting a lot of resources and have never truly realized it. After a night of talking, we really pointed out all the different ways I may be wasteful.

For example, I do a lot of laundry and wear things for such a short amount of time and I never reuse it. I use a lot of dishes and I am traveling a lot for school, my internship and other reasons. Taking a step back, it’s truly remarkable what I am putting to waste.

Let’s put this into perspective:

Shower: 2-3 times a day (depending on if I exercise)

Laundry: 1-2 loads every other day

Dishes: Once a day (maybe two if it’s not just me eating)

Traveling: 3 days to my internship in Philly (I live in Sewell, NJ and take the train in Collingswood). Also, I travel to and from campus whenever I have classes and whenever else I need to go out.

Electric: I tend to leave lights on a lot and I also forget to turn my TV off before I go to bed.

All of that in mind, it is really a lot to take in and recognize the amount of resources I can cut down on. I may not need to do all of this for the sake of saving and preserving what we have.

The reason I do all of this so much is not just because I’m a wasteful, thoughtless person. I just get wrapped up in the things I’ve been used to doing for so long. Because it’s been routine for so long, I’m afraid to change it.

I feel like my hygiene and body need to be clean and polished at all times, which is why I do a lot of these things. I’m not a clean freak, I just hate feeling greasy, or gross when I wake up.

I’m a very active person, so I get dirty easily by going to the gym, taking the train, cleaning up, doing side projects outside and anything else that happens in the course of my day.

How can I change that? It’s simple.

I just need to take a step back every once in a while to think about what I’m doing and if I really need to do it. There is a lot I can cut back on to do my part.

Less showers, less laundry, rewear clothes that aren’t on me very long and cut back on the driving I do and try to find things closer to home to do.

Of course I’m just one person and it doesn’t mean a lot, but it’s doing my part and hoping other people follow in suit. If it weren’t for my girlfriend, I probably never would have noticed all of this.

She’s a vegetarian and while that’s a whole different topic, it’s something I just can’t give up on yet.

I’ll cut back on other things, but for now, wings are here to stay!

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