What Is Holistic Living Anyway?

I thought if I was going to blogging about holistic living and parenting maybe I should explain what it is. Some of you might not understand it, or think it's to hard to live that way, or think it's for a bunch of hippies.

This is what holistic living is not: It is not all or nothing. You get to decide what works best for you and your family. There is no holistic police that will come after you if you don't do it "right" or don't do enough. I believe if every person did just ONE thing it's enough to make a difference in the world and your life.

This is what holistic living is: It's a journey. It's a journey to live as "whole" (that is what holistic means) as possible -- to live and parent the way nature intended. It includes doing things that protects the world we live in and keeps our body whole physically, emotionally and spiritually as naturally as you possibly can -- that's my definition anyway. I'm sure others could add to it.

I wasn't born holistic and wasn't always as devoted to it as I am now. It's been a journey from about the time I was in high school with a few breaks and it's still on the journey. In high school, I would talk about "saving the Earth." I'm not even sure if I knew what that meant, but it sounded right to me. My family thought I was a goof ball and they still do, very lovingly though. In my early 20s, I became very interested in healing through herbs and essential oils. I loved going to the chiropractor. My mid 20s, I started using cloth diapers, breastfed and became informed on circumcision and vaccinations. I used cloth bags at the grocery store and recycled. My late 20s, I decided to stop vaccinating altogether, started looking at the way food was affecting my second son. We stopped eating anything with dye and high fructose corn syrup. Early 30s I was introduced to homeopathy, started eating about 95 percent organic, started making all our snacks and baked goods from scratch and now I'm in my mid 30s, and still learning and growing. There's so many exciting things out there to learn about. My current interests are organic gardening and baking gluten-free.   

So if you haven't already, start the journey! Pick up a reuseable grocery bag (all the stores have them now I think) and start using it. Then when you feel ready try something else, replacing paper napkins with cloth ones. When you do a little at a time, it's not overwhelming and remember there is no holistic police. It's ok to slip up. I've been known to enjoy a Dr. Pepper and have gone to Wendy's in a pinch.