Holidays and sustainability practices
This holiday season we decided to simply be in Denmark, in Copenhagen where we live and in Bornholm. It's not a compromise, but a decision motivated and empowered by a deep desire to connect with the place where we live, to fall even deeper in love with it. Copenhagen feels different in summer. Some small shops where we usually shop are closed. In some spaces there are many more fellow humans, in others, fewer.
I'm not working these weeks, apart from gently editing the final version of a chapter I've written with a Swedish colleague. Editing this chapter doesn't feel like work at all. As I'm editing the chapter, I am thinking once again how important it is to work with kind fellow humans.
I'm contemplating my autoethnography and sketching some notes for the entries I want to write. I want to check in with myself and my minimalist practice. This summer, I feel that inspiration for living with what is lagom for me and for focusing on my basic needs is everywhere. I look at non-human beings and feel inspired by them wearing the same outfit every day. I've been doing it for a while, but I'm feeling it even deeper that I'm on the right path. I've not invited many objects into my life, but let go of several. Something I invited into my life recently was a washcloth. I use only water to wash my body, and using a washcloth made from natural materials allows me to be more present with my body and celebrate its imperfections. I've given away many of the items that I thought I would never give away because they were green. I've given away one of our stainless steel water bottles and many of our cotton tote bags. We simply had too many.
I've not invited anything holiday related into my life. No summer clothes or swim suits. I wear what I already have. I swim naked, as it's legal here in Denmark.
In the summer house, we borrowed a badminton set from my partner's mother so we didn't have to buy our own.
Every day, I am falling in love with everyday activities such as washing the dishes by hand and cooking simple food. I observe that it feels vulnerable to say that I genuinely enjoy these things. I enjoy them no less than doing research and working on my academic articles.