Final Reflections

Now that the experiment has been over for a couple of days ( and I have recovered from my lack of meat), I'm ready to look back at my experience and explore what what I gained from it.

Transportation: For most of the week, I stuck to my limitation, but whenever there was a time crunch I always broke the rules. This led me to reseal that in a fast-paced environment  transportation limitations may not always be feasible ( no matter how much you want to reduce your carbon footprint) because of time constraints.  However, this week also revealed that I can make some slight, permanent adjustments to my transportation methods. Whenever I had free time, I had no problem (and liked) walking to Tenley or nearby areas such as friendship or Bethesda; therefore, I will continue to do so. Just maintaining little things like this will reduce my carbon footprint, while having the added benefit of making me just a tiny bit healthier.

Food: By now, if you've been reading this, you know about half-way through I began to eat meat again. I did this not only because I was hungry (starving really), but also because I discovered eating fish, my substitute, was worse for the environment than eating meat. I was torn, but ultimately decided that since I was eating unhealthier because I gave up meat( TDR has a really bad selection) and I was contributing to the extinction of fish(and my wallet really), I returned to my meat eating ways. Ultimately, this part experiment didn't make me a vegetarian, but it made me more conscious of what I'm putting in my body. The food offered at this university is disgusting and unhealthy, and although I might not be ready to stop eating meat, that does not mean I want to put pesticide ridden food into my body. Therefore, this experiment inspired me to cook my own food(or most of it). Next year, I will get the minimum meal-plan so I can be in control of the food decisions I make (to eat organic or not). This will allow me to eat healthier(decent tasting food!!!) and closer to home, hopefully reducing my impact on the internment.

Consumerism: I am sooooo happy with this part of the experiment. I did not buy one thing for the entire week ( and still haven't). For me, this was the easiest part of the experiment because whenever I saw something and was tempted to buy it, I just reminded my self that I really didn't need it(take that I consumerism). For a while, I just got caught up in this consumerist culture, but I really don't NEED most of the items I buy. I'm glad that it was easy for me to return to my old shopping custom (as in never) and honestly, I want to keep this streak up. That doesn't mean that I won't buy items once in a while, but I don't want to ever go back to buying an item a week, no matter how inexpensive or pretty. The cost outweighs the benefit, at least to me, and buying these items only superficial pleases me, I would rather spend my time and money on endeavors that will make me content in the long run.


Technology: Giving up technology while difficult, made me realize that I had become dependent on it. Maybe not to the extent that others are ( don't live and breathe Facebook), but I did freak out if I didn't have my phone on me. Although I want to reduce my dependency, I can't imagine anyway to do so in my everyday life, especially since I use it to stay in touch with my family. However, I can see myself putting away my phone whenever I'm talking to someone or eating with a group, because in those situations its only a distraction and hindrance to companionship. I feel like technology should be used to enhance your life/interactions, it should not be the means for all your social interactions.



Positive Impact/Political Action: This is the only part of my experiment, where the results could not be seen in a week; however, I did successfully make plan to do volunteer work and get involved. This Saturday, I will be participating in relay for life, so at the very least by the end of this week I will have done some community service. In addition, I went to a club event, so I feel like I took steps toward becoming active in the AU community. It had been a while since I interacted with people outside of my immediate group of friends and it felt nice to get out and get active, so I can definitely see myself continuing to be involved in that club. While I can admit that mostly I just care about myself, the world doesn't revolve around me, their are other people on this planet, and if taking a couple hours out of my day can benefit at least one person, then In my opinion its worth it.


Health & Happiness: About midway through the experiment I had a mini-epiphany, which was that life should be a balance between health and happiness, because If you focus too much on one side then you compromise the other. I found this particularly challenging because of my utter lack of self-control, once I begin doing something that brings me joy/happiness (I become like Smeagol and the ring) I am hard-pressed to stop. However, on Thursday , dead-tired and stressed, I said enough was enough (after pulling an all-nighter, because I read books all week instead of sleeping and doing my homework) and set a timer to limit my reading. Since then things have been good, I am getting at least six hours of sleep, maintaining my workload, exercising, and reading. Since I started, this part of the experiment, especially the exercising, I have felt better and because of the benefits I will continue to do so, hopefully making this part of the experiment a permanent fixture in my life.

I really enjoyed this experiment. It pushed me past my limits, reminded me of the differences between a need and a necessity, gave me SLEEP, and........made me hungry. In spite of my hunger, I am grateful that I did this and completed it to the best of my ability because it showed me that, yes i can make changes, and that no matter how small they are, they can have a big impact on both my life and on the environment.