Natural living is so important, but obsessing about being crunchy can have its drawbacks. Here I share the top reasons why I choose balance in natural living.
Over the last couple of years, I have learned why natural living is so important for health and my husband and I have been gradually making changes in our home to reduce toxins we are consuming.
Becoming a mom added to my desire to create a natural environment for my family and I coined the phrase “natural momming.”
As I entered the natural living world, I was surprised by how much pressure I was feeling to change everything we were doing, and began to feel shame and stress for the things that my family was doing that was not entirely “clean” and even the things that were clean were not “clean enough.”
Mom shaming is real and I’m not here for that.
As much as I love the idea of living a completely crunchy lifestyle, that is not totally practical for my family all of the time.
I know there are tons of other families out there who want to live more naturally, but aren’t able to go completely all-in for various reasons.
My blog is resource for other moms who want start living more naturally without guilt or judgement about where you are in the process.
Here I’ll discuss 7 reasons why I choose balance in natural living (and why I’m perfectly happy with it). I think you’ll be able to relate.
1. My mental health is a priority
The number one reason why I choose to balance natural living with conventional living is that anxiety about doing everything right can take a toll on my mental health.
My entire reasoning for seeking a more natural lifestyle is to promote good health, but it can easily get out of hand when I stress so much about every single thing.
Mental health plays a huge role in our physical health and vice versa.
There will always be more changes that can be made, but when I focus on what I am not doing right, I become discouraged and want to give up entirely.
Changing from conventional living to natural living can be overwhelming. My approach is moderation in all things which takes out so much of that overwhelm.
2. Natural living can be costly
There are a lot of ways that natural living can be cheaper than a conventional lifestyle, but there are also so many things that are much more expensive.
As cost of living goes up, it is more important than ever to focus on budget-friendly products.
My background is in family finance and I’m always looking for ways to make money stretch further. There are some things that we are just not able to afford right now, but as time goes on, we will continue to make changes.
I love to use coupons and I’m a sucker for a good deal so I still get sticker shock when I compare prices of natural vs conventional products at the store.
For example, I used to buy the cheapest deodorant I could find. After learning about the dangers of the fragrances and aluminum in deodorants, I was shocked to realize how much more expensive the natural deodorants can be. The one I use now is 10x the cost of the Suave I was using before.
I absolutely believe that we are worth invest in and that our health should be a priority. For that reason, I am willing to spend more money on some products and foods.
That being said, it can add up so quickly which is why I choose to balance and prioritize what we natural vs conventional products we are consuming.
It takes a lot of time and research to understand what changes will have the biggest impact and are worth the investment.
3. Not all natural living is practical
As much as I would love to own a milking cow and grow all of my own food and make all of my own clothes and products, that is not practical for us right now.
I am a busy mom and caregiver to my husband all while holding down a job. We’ve all got our stuff. I haven’t met very many people who aren’t busy to some extent.
While many natural living choices make sense for us, some things are just not practical in the stage of life we’re in and that’s okay.
4. I haven’t found perfect substitutes for everything yet
There are a lot of really great non-toxic and natural products out there. I have loved finding things that work just as well or better than things that I was using before (like this non-toxic hand soap), but we are still working on finding/creating some substitutions that work well for our family.
Although we have switched out most of our conventional personal care and cleaning products for more natural ones, there are still things we are working on changing.
One example is eye makeup. The non-toxic mascaras that I have tried don’t work nearly as well as the conventional brand I’ve been using for years.
I’m still working on testing out new brands and actively searching for one that I love.
5. I’m still learning
I have learned so much in the last couple of years and I have a lot to share, but to be completely honest, I still have a lot to learn.
We should all be learning and progressing. (When you know better, you do better, right?)
There have been lots of times where I thought I was using a perfectly non-toxic product and then later learned about how bad it really was.
Fortunately, I learn from my mistakes and I continue researching.
The more I learn, the more we are able to improve our lifestyle and make needed adjustments over time.
6. Our bodies are designed to get rid of toxins and they’re really good at it
Now, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be worried about our environment. The truth is that our world is really toxic and is becoming more so everyday.
My philosophy is that the more we are able to reduce the toxins we are putting into our bodies, the better chance we have of getting rid of the rest of the toxins we are exposed to.
In a perfect world, we would have a completely toxin free home and diet, but because that is impossible, I choose to focus on things we can control and trust our bodies to do their job as well.
My family focuses on eating a clean diet and reducing toxic products we consume so that our bodies can function at their best.
7. Healthy living is a spectrum and so is natural living
There truly are so many definitions of what is healthy. It really depends on your goals and the way you view things.
Living naturally is one aspect of healthy living that looks different for everyone.
I saw a post on facebook asking, “What is one thing you still use even though you know it is toxic?”
It was so interesting to see all of the responses. Something that I felt was an easy switch for us was the sacred cow for another family that they could not give up. And some things that I love (ice cream) might be easy for you to switch.
I only saw one person who said that they felt they can say they truly live a non-toxic lifestyle in every way. As for the rest of us, we’re still working on it and defining what that means for each individual and family.
This website is a space for those of us who are still learning and working on natural living.
What about you? Are there things that you just can’t give up, even though you know they’re not good for you? What are your reasons?
