Living According to My Values

I wrote an e-mail which led to a blog post about getting my vaccinations yesterday.  It included this sentence paragraph:

I don't drive the car very much, so it was good to give it a drive. I probably won't drive it again this week. There's a lack of parking in the city, so I tend to go to nearby grocery stores and buy what I need and can carry. So far, it's working. When I go to visit people like my sister or my parents, I stock up on heavier things like bags of flour or cans

After I wrote that chunk, I thought about all the ways I'm living my values here in seminary.  I have always wondered if it would be easier to do when I'm living in my own space, and it is in many ways.  When I'm in my seminary apartment, I eat vegetarian, by which I mean I use eggs and dairy products like cheese.  For a variety of reasons, I don't drink when I'm alone.

I'm exercising every day.  Part of that exercising involves walking to get supplies, and I only get what I can carry.  When I do a bigger restocking trip with the car, I combine that trip with other things.

I don't have a TV.  Well, to be accurate, I have one, but I can't get it to work.  So far, I don't miss it, so I don't see spending money to get a new TV or to get some device that would let me stream TV on  my computer.

I will admit that much of my intentional living follows a similar path:  I don't know that I should get accolades for living according to my values when part of the reason, a large part, is because it's easier.  I walk instead of driving because there's less anxiety.  I'm lucky that I'm living in a part of DC where walking is safe, and I can walk to what I need--and I'm lucky that I can walk.

I always wondered if I would clean on a weekly basis if I knew it was just me, and I could clean and the place would stay clean for a day or two before it drifted to messiness again.  I have discovered that if it's just me, I don't need to clean once a week because the space doesn't get dirty as quickly.  I don't think it's anything special; I believe that the more humans/creatures added to a space, the more the place gets dirty and on an exponential basis.

I am happy to report that this experiment with living alone hasn't been leading to me deciding that I want to stay living alone forever.  On the contrary, I'm feeling appreciation for the communities I've had in the past, and the ones I'm part of now.