Isn’t starting the hardest part? I’ve been researching how to start and I think it’s keeping me from starting. The best way to start is to simply start, isn’t that what they say? So….Hi, my name is Catherine and I’m a new blogger.

My whole life has been a search to figure out who I want to be when I grow up and what makes me happy. The thing is there are so many cool things in life how are you ever supposed to pick one thing. When I spoke to my counselor in college she asked me if I was double majoring or if I had several minors. My coursework was all over the place. I took whatever classes interested me that fit into my schedule. Alas, I only had one major because I didn’t want their rules to ruin my interest. In hindsight, even my major was a major where I couldn’t decide what I liked best. Know a little of everything but specialize in nothing.

I’ve had a few specific situations that I feel like have brought me to this place. I think the one that put me over the edge was when I tried to get my yard certified as a certified wildlife location. I had been in a few seminars with the person that was coming to inspect my location. I was so excited, the person had a wealth of knowledge, they seemed to be passionate, I was looking forward to meeting with them one on one. It felt like I had never been so disappointed in my life. I was crushed. The person didn’t seem super interested in talking about the program or my space. They admitted that while I technically had everything needed to be certified it wasn’t pretty enough. They wanted people to be jealous of my certification so that they would think I want that too. I had just recently been through some medical issues hadn’t recovered enough to get back to my old self. I had a few more weeds than preferred. After having sat through all the seminars that said it didn’t matter how little the space was, every little bit helped I felt defeated. It seemed that only perfection was worth celebrating and encouraging in the real world.  I could never find my place and had a niggling in my brain that maybe I should try; maybe I could bring together the people like me. Then I came across a quote: “We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.” –Anne Marie Bonneau, Zero Waste Chef (zerowastechef.com/about)

Me, I’m imperfect. I could help me and others imperfects learn how to make a positive difference. In the world of the internet it never seems that anyone is truly a beginner. It can feel very intimidating to genuinely be a beginner. During my journey I would like to focus on positivity and change. I want to focus on positive change in myself, how to make a positive change for my family, friends, community (local and in the world) and the environment. I know a lofty goal. I hope that you will join me to learn how to make positive changes, to make the world a little better than when we received it.