Modern life is rubbish and other tales of woe

It’s been nearly ten months since I started trying to shop ethically, with mixed success. In the last couple of months I have been really struggling. I think it’s a reflection of modern living and how much stuff we need. If I lived in a little house in the middle of nowhere on a large plot with some animals and veggie patch, living the good life, aiming for self sufficiency then I’m sure I wouldn’t want for much. But when you’re doing nine-five to pay the mortgage, need clothes to go to the office and ‘stuff’ like films and good food to help you unwind at the end of the day, its not easy. Now I’m not some fashion victim who needs the latest look all the time but wearing scruffy old jeans to the office really doesn’t project a professional image. I know I’m making excuses for my failings but I have tried, really tried but I can’t manage to shop ethically 100% of the time. In a way I need to make peace with a compromise – if I can shop ethically most of the time, then that’s good, it’s not perfect, but it’s better. I’m still buying fair-trade and organic food where I can, still mostly buying from charities and independent stores but I have been to the high street a couple of times. The most upsetting part of my high street shame though, isn’t that I’ve bought things; it’s that the top I bought is now in the sale for half what I paid for it. Karma? Perhaps. A lesson in patience? Definitely. A sign that I should be more careful about what I spend my money on? Absolutely.