Growin’ Through It: A Filipino’s Journey Towards Sustainability
The gradual, yet fruitful, process of tending to ourselves and the world around us.
Our plant-festival, “OH MY GULAY!”, is right around the corner. We’ve just announced our complete vendor/workshop list, so we’re even more excited to celebrate all things plants with you all on Saturday, March 5th.
From plant-based food to vegan candles to a (really awesome) moss expression workshop, our plant celebration encompasses a range of options for sustainable and mindful living.
The festival was born out of a desire for us to acknowledge our connection to the environment and one another. So we wanted a celebration that’s conscious and intentional about living in a way where we can enjoy our present world, while cultivating a better future. And that starts with what we consume.
How can we consume and move in a way that tends to us all?
I, for one, wasn’t aware of my consumption habits until 2018. Though close friends of mine were vegan, I couldn’t wrap my head around it, no matter how many TED Talks they showed me!
I knew matters of sustainability didn’t begin and end with food, but also consisted of things like clothing and beauty products, yet it all felt overwhelming. I reasoned that I just didn’t have the bandwidth to take the leap towards an outer, physical lifestyle change. But in actuality, I was more so afraid to see how I was truly living my life. I wasn’t ready for the internal, emotional changes - the vulnerability (and the guilt!) - so I kept with the “ignorance is bliss” mentality because it had served me my whole life. Or at least I thought it did.
Old habits die hard, especially ones born from hustle culture
It wasn’t until I lived on my own in an unfamiliar country that my habits caught up to me. Unable to run way from myself, I realized that I opted for a quick, cheap, always hustlin’ lifestyle that capitalism demanded from me. I never stopped long enough to question my choices, to “smell the roses”, because the system never wanted me to. I had bought into it - the transaction only really benefiting me in the short-term, while costing the planet (and my overall health) in the long-term.
Finally stopping to smell the roses
In order to allow change to happen in my life, I had to open myself up to it. Once I did, I knew the process of undoing lifelong habits would be a challenging one - one that, to this day, I’m still working on.
But as I finally slowed down, I saw, for the first time, the world around me and how connected we all were. For many, this was a shared experience during the COVID lockdown. All of us becoming suddenly aware and suddenly unable to go back to how things were before.
So as we move on, and enter the Spring of 2022, how can we consume and move in a way that tends to us all? How do we slow down as the world opens up? How do we meet ourselves where we’re at and root for each other so we can embrace change?
These are big questions that will have many answers and forms.
Our plant celebration encompasses a range of options for sustainable and mindful living.
Creating Kapwa Gardens and launching the OH MY GULAY! festival was a way an answer presented itself to us. It was our attempt to tackle the new realities after the pandemic, a desire to celebrate our interconnectedness with each other and the world.
Through our vendors and workshops, we opted for variety because a love for plants, sustainability, and conscious consumption isn’t one size fits all.
Wherever you are in your sustainability journey, OH MY GULAY! welcomes you (and all your friends!) to show up as you are, slow down, and embrace all the possibilities of change.
Be sure to follow @kapwagardens to keep up-to-date with vendor spotlights!
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