End of the Year Declutter

 

Yesterday morning I started my "weekend" with a trip to ReRoot, Malta´s Zero Waste Shop in L-Iklin. I came armed with several glass jars and two plastic containers. They were filled (from left to right):

Vegan salted caramel with dark chocolate

Caramelized peanut with milk chocolate and orange

salted peanuts

walnuts 

roasted almonds

dates

cookies

I also bought another natural deo cream (in a card container) and two glass bottles with spray attachments (for my self made natural cleaners). Till now I was using upcycled spray bottles from former cleaning products, which sprayers are finally broken after some years of using. 

The trip to L-Iklin always is a happy event to look forward to - for several reasons:

- I love to shop in a Waste Free Shop

- I love to pack a totem bag with empty containers to be refilled completely package free 

- I do like the owner of ReRoot and it´s always a blast chatting with him

- After shopping I walk down the street and have a nice brunch at an amazing, unique place (a combination of a cozy café with an art gallery/framing shop) 

Yesterday I also brought some samples of Sonnentor teas for JP, the owner of ReRoot.

Last time we were chatting about all kind of stuff and I started raving about my favorite Austrian brand for tea, coffee, spices, herbs, etc.
He was very interested and promised to check their homepage for maybe stocking their loose tea in ReRoot. So I was very excited to bring the samples with me, cause I knew he´ll love the tea as much as I do. 

But I got a huge surprise!

He already stock a nice selection of loose Sonnentor teas in the shop!

"From what you told me and what I read on their homepage I was convinced enough to order straight away. And the tea is amazing! Customer already come back for it because they love it."

Of course they love it!
If I know anything, it is that Sonnentor products and the whole brand is perfect!

Soon I´ll ask them to nominate me Sonnentor Ambassador in Malta ...

Seeing my favorite tea in nice glass jars on the shelf in ReRoot made me very, very happy!

Now, why am I talking about all of that today?
Because at this time of the year it always comes natural to me to declutter my life and make a plan of how I want it going from next year on.

My journey of a healthy, natural, pure and as waste and plastic free as possible life is nothing new. Being on it for a couple of years already, though I am not forcing anything and I don´t stress myself (anymore) wanting to do it 100%. But I do know all the benefits of living a natural and pure life. 
Eating natural and pure (as much as possible).

Using only natural, preferred self made, cleaning and beauty products.

Only buying stuff I really need or really love.

Avoiding plastic and single used products (as much as possible). 

Getting rid of everything that doesn´t make me feel good. 

This journey is becoming more and more important and very dear to me. I love finding new solutions and it has a huge impact on every area of my wellbeing. As a Highly Sensitive Person I need to take good care of my soul and my body. The older I get the more I am aware of that.

A few weeks ago I was craving potato crisps. Usually I only like the salted or even the unsalted ones. All those flavored ones are giving me a hard time. 

Did you know there is buttermilk in paprika flavored potato crisps? So if you are lactose intolerant you might know now why you are not feeling too well after eating them ...

And, let´s face it, there is not much natural paprika in paprika crisps. Not to mention all those other chemical flavored types of crisps. 

I went to a shop. They didn´t have any (good) salted crisps. So I bought flavored ones from a brand I usually like. Came home, opened the bag, ate the first crisps, didn´t like them at all. They were too spicy and they tasted too "chemical". 

Now, I am not a person who throws food away without the only reason of it being spoiled. Nature grew it for us, somebody prepared it for us, it cost money. Wasting food is disrespecting Mother Earth.

So I ate all the way too spicy and way too chemical crisps.

Two days later I couldn´t get up in the morning!

I felt nauseous, I felt sick and I had a headache. 

Fortunately I was off, so I stayed in bed and went back to sleep. At one point I woke up and when I tried to open my eyes, they uncontrolled moved in their sockets.  

I stayed in bed for most of the day. When I hanged the washing every couple of minutes I needed to take a break and sit down cause I was afraid to faint. 

That was spooky! 

For a while I was not completely sure if really the crisps were the reason for that awful condition. Until a few days ago when I ate chemically colored and flavored jelly beans. Next day: I felt nauseous, I felt sick and I had a headache!

Thinking back to what I put into my body for decades it even gives me more headache!

THANK YOU, my dearest body! You managed to stay healthy in spite of the worst treatment ever! From now on I promise to take care of you better than ever!

My advice for anybody out there who is reading my blog - no matter if you are sensitive or not:

Listen to your body! Listen very carefully to your wellbeing! 

Find out what really does you good and get rid of everything else. 

Loud music, chemical perfume, toxic people, ... what ever!

Your body and soul might deal with it. Probably you don´t even know that you don´t feel good.

--- "I feel bad, I don´t feel good!" - are the lyrics of a song in the background right now. Damn! Who is reading my blog while I am typing it?!?! ---

Only when you adjust to a healthier life you will feel the difference.

And there is a time when conventional chocolate only tastes like shit - only awfully sweet, otherwise completely tasteless! 

All of a sudden you like the self made smoothie with fresh bananas, organic cacao powder and almond milk better than any sweet treat you put into your mouth on a regular basis before.

And if the time is right for a special sweet treat you watch out for something special, handmade, with excellent ingredients.  

By the way:

Have you seen the two different chocolate bits in the glass jars in my picture above??
Holy shit! 

Sooooo gooooood!!