It's incredible the number of things I've learned over the last couple of days. And it's not like someone is sitting there teaching us these things, you just get it from living this way. Some of these lessons I'm sure you've heard other people say, and you know it but you just haven't lived it or truly understand it, and yes they're corny, but I've come to realise that they really are true. Here are a couple of the things I've come to understand:
-We really do take water, electricity and the availability of food for granted. Water, I'm talking the water we drink, the water we use to shower or brush our teeth, all of it. Running water is something amazing and you shouldn't waste it on useless things. As for electricity, I've been going fine without it for the last few days, it really isn't so bad, but then I think how much of it I use back home and I am in utter shock. People always talk about living their life without internet or computers and they're usually either scared to do it or they think they can, but you really can't know until you try, and right now, I realise that there is so much that is more important and I really think I could. The availability of food, that's pretty self-explanatory. I'm just saying, being able to walk down to your kitchen, open your fridge and eat whatever you want- even if you complain there's nothing good- or being able to walk across the street and buy practically anything from a supermarket, both of these things are amazing. We assume that that's how it is everywhere, but it's really not.
-Something being cold is a luxury. Ice is a privilege. I will never be able to look at fridges or ice or cold drinks the same. We've all forgotten what feeling cold feels like: we don't have cold showers, fridges, AC... anything like that. The moment today, when one of our staff members told us we were going to spend the evening playing pool in a room with AC, where we could order cold drinks, and everyone started freaking out... I'm never going to forget that. It has made me realise how much energy, how much electricity and how much time it takes to make something cold. I never noticed that before, I always figured well yeah, to make something cold, put it in the fridge, in the freezer, in cold water. What if you have none of that?
-Similar to what I just said in the last point, that one moment I explained and how happy we were just by her telling us that... It made me realise how little it took to make us happy. And how much it usually takes us to be happy. And how that shouldn't be the case because we have a ton more than what they have and yet they are still happier. We should all just be more grateful, because we all have more than enough reasons to be.
-Similar to the first point I made, using the bucket showers (which never took more than 5 minutes total), I realised how unnecessary it is for us to spend so much time in the shower. It also made me see how much water we use when we do. Just get in and get out, that's all there is to it and there is definitely no reason for people to be taking showers for more than 20 minutes.
There are a lot more, but they all run along the same lines: don't take things for granted, be grateful for what you have and understand that what you have is not a given-not everyone has it. All these lessons I was sort of expecting to get out of this and I mean, I knew it before but I just never would have acted on it or acted differently because of it. Now I will.
LM
-We really do take water, electricity and the availability of food for granted. Water, I'm talking the water we drink, the water we use to shower or brush our teeth, all of it. Running water is something amazing and you shouldn't waste it on useless things. As for electricity, I've been going fine without it for the last few days, it really isn't so bad, but then I think how much of it I use back home and I am in utter shock. People always talk about living their life without internet or computers and they're usually either scared to do it or they think they can, but you really can't know until you try, and right now, I realise that there is so much that is more important and I really think I could. The availability of food, that's pretty self-explanatory. I'm just saying, being able to walk down to your kitchen, open your fridge and eat whatever you want- even if you complain there's nothing good- or being able to walk across the street and buy practically anything from a supermarket, both of these things are amazing. We assume that that's how it is everywhere, but it's really not.
-Something being cold is a luxury. Ice is a privilege. I will never be able to look at fridges or ice or cold drinks the same. We've all forgotten what feeling cold feels like: we don't have cold showers, fridges, AC... anything like that. The moment today, when one of our staff members told us we were going to spend the evening playing pool in a room with AC, where we could order cold drinks, and everyone started freaking out... I'm never going to forget that. It has made me realise how much energy, how much electricity and how much time it takes to make something cold. I never noticed that before, I always figured well yeah, to make something cold, put it in the fridge, in the freezer, in cold water. What if you have none of that?
-Similar to what I just said in the last point, that one moment I explained and how happy we were just by her telling us that... It made me realise how little it took to make us happy. And how much it usually takes us to be happy. And how that shouldn't be the case because we have a ton more than what they have and yet they are still happier. We should all just be more grateful, because we all have more than enough reasons to be.
-Similar to the first point I made, using the bucket showers (which never took more than 5 minutes total), I realised how unnecessary it is for us to spend so much time in the shower. It also made me see how much water we use when we do. Just get in and get out, that's all there is to it and there is definitely no reason for people to be taking showers for more than 20 minutes.
There are a lot more, but they all run along the same lines: don't take things for granted, be grateful for what you have and understand that what you have is not a given-not everyone has it. All these lessons I was sort of expecting to get out of this and I mean, I knew it before but I just never would have acted on it or acted differently because of it. Now I will.
LM
