|| Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely ||

Rampant police brutality, which disproportionally targets people of color, has been in the spotlight for the past year, with tensions rising each time a new instance arises. Unfortunately the frequency of excessive force, which can lead to death in many cases, is disturbingly high; and yet there appears to be little to no reprimanding or prosecuting of the offending officers. Even when there is video evidence that directly contradicts the officer’s official story, we still see them walking away scot-free from what should be a chargeable offence. Increasingly we hear this idea that if these victims of police brutality simply followed the law then they would’ve avoided a dangerous situation. Often times though, the instances that lead to excessive force by police officers are for menial crimes that would never warrant the abuse inflicted. We enter very dangerous waters when we spread the idea that police officers have the right to resort to extreme violence because people chose to exercise their right to question officer’s reasons and motives. Watching the many videos from scenarios across the country make it impossible to ignore the increasingly militant actions of police forces.

Often times while I watch footage of this abuse, I can’t help but feel like the officers display knee-jerk reactions to a person questioning their authority or bruising their ego. In the aftermath officers scramble for reasons validating their excessive behavior, and will often resort to saying the person resisted arrest (even when no crime was committed) which many times is simply an irritated individual who is getting unnecessarily punished. The level of hypocrisy and blatant racism that arises each time a new instance of police brutality surfaces is outrageous. Being pulled over or approached by a police officer doesn’t exactly bring out the best in people. Yes, mutual respect between the officer and the citizen is preferred, but when people feel as though they are unfairly targeted and profiled because of their skin color, can we really blame them for questioning the officer’s motives? When Eric Garder was continuously heckled by police officers for no discernable reason other than “walking while black,” how can we condemn him for voicing his frustration as he is minutes from death at the hands of five police officers? If our country’s police officers become fearful of their lives (which is the only acceptable reason for use of deadly force) because of an unarmed man showing a bit of irritation then they should not be officers, period.

A mob mentality has arisen inside the police force in this country. Rather than upholding their vow to protect and serve the citizens of the United States, they seem to protect and serve themselves and their fellow officers above all else. Sure, there are moral and ethical cops who do indeed put their lives on the line every day, I don’t question that. However, why are we not seeing more of these good cops speak up against the blatant corruption and forcing the offending cops to take proper accountability for their actions? At the moment we have an armed government entity that sees time and time again that they can overreact in a violent manner and be untouchable in terms of due punishment – thus reinforcing the inappropriate behavior.  So instead of exhausting the options for deescalating a tense situation we see officers immediately resort to force. There is no doubt that this current reality we face of continuously excused police brutality attracts certain dangerous personalities to the job. We’re seeing behavior indicative of extreme narcissism from these officers. Narcissistic personality disorder is defined by a grandiose sense of self-importance, arrogance, and lack of empathy – traits that seem prevalent in the knee-jerk violent reactions of these offending officers. Those are extraordinarily dangerous traits of a person who carries deadly weapons and is given the green light to use force at the drop of a dime.  Thus, police officers who may already have a propensity for violence and narcissism have gained the right to react with force when a citizen bruises their precious ego. Those who lack empathy don’t have motivation to refrain from excessive force except the possibility of punishment; so when we grant officers infallibility in regards to the law, then we set the breeding ground for police brutality.

The old adage rings true in our current paradigm, “if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” An Us against Them dichotomy has arisen in regards to the police force in this country.  Instead of serving and protecting citizens, police officers have morphed into an exclusive club that primarily serves itself. We, the civilians, now feel alienated, we’re bitter towards the lack of accountability by the police. Even worse, people of color are now forced to be fearful for their lives whenever they encounter police officers. Black lives are taken and ruined on a daily basis in this country, and yet apologists will hypocritically condemn them for mistrusting the police force in this country. When a black woman gets pulled over for failure to use a traffic signal, gets arrested and physically abused for nothing more than an officer’s bruised ego, and ends up mysteriously dying in jail days later, then the anger towards the police is entirely valid. When a black man is arrested, thrown in a police van only to be intentionally driven in a fashion that inflicts injury, and later dies from those injuries, then the anger towards police is entirely valid. When a Haitian man is brutally attacked, tortured, and sodomized by a police officer who admitted a desire to humiliate the victim, then the anger towards police officers is entirely valid. The fact of the matter is these instances happen all the time, and they are happening exponentially more to black people.

Contrary to what the mainstream media will have us believe, the reason black people are the primary targets of police brutality is not because they commit worse crimes, it is not because they are inherently bad or dangerous. The reason black people are targeted is because of systemic racism and structural violence that is built into our society. In some areas of the country, police forces are encouraged to use racial profiling on the job. They make false assumptions based on false ideas about the black community, then place the blame on the often innocent victims. On top of the blatant racism we see very poorly trained police officers saddled with military equipment who apparently don’t know how to deescalate situations with unarmed citizens without the use of excessive and deadly force. Furthermore, according to a study by the Department of Justice 84 percent of police officers report that they’ve seen their colleagues use excessive force on civilians and 61 percent say they don’t always report these instances. So the misconduct and abuse of power continues in a vicious cycle, with no motivation for inside reform because there is very little sign of punishment for offending officers. When police officers are killing people every single day they are denying citizens their right for due process under the law, they are breaking the law on every level – but instead of receiving appropriate punishment they walk away with murder, and a person lost their one precious life because they committed what is often a victim-less crime.

There is absolutely no excuse for officers to actively protect or turn a blind eye on their corrupt and dangerous colleagues. The fact they engage in this negligent behavior shows exactly where their collective loyalty lies, with themselves and not the citizens. By not doing everything they can to stop the rampant brutality and abuse by certain police officers in the force, then they are really no better than the ones committing the acts. If protecting and serving the citizens of the United States was truly the concern of the police force then offending officers would be prosecuted even harsher for breaking their civil duty, not being cleared and forgiven at every turn. Police officers are now hoping for a law against citizens videotaping their actions in public. Once again they show their true colors, because video evidence often directly contradicts abusive officers’ version of events and their main goal is to avoid accountability and protect themselves. Another disturbing issue that arose recently is that police departments will purposefully not hire a person who is deemed too smart, and it’s legal to do so. They claim intelligent people don’t “fit the profile.” Well then we can’t help but wonder what exactly the profile they prefer is. My propensity is to believe the reason police departments don’t want intelligent officers on their forces is because they will be less likely to unquestionably carry out orders and swallow whatever brainwashing they’re fed.

The fact of the matter is, the police do not own us. We have every right to resist illegal action by police, we have every right to ask what their motive is for overstepping their boundaries, and we have every right to protect our lives. When we choose to exercise these rights we are acting within legal boundaries and that absolutely does not give police officers the right to opt for physical force. Rational human beings would understand that when a person is given a ticket by a police officer that they may not be in the best spirits, so any minor attitude or questioning would make sense to a rational person, and a rational person wouldn’t be bothered by that. An irrational person hears any inkling of imagined disrespect and it immediately damages their ego, so they irrationally react disproportionally to the situation. A rational and responsible person would deescalate a situation however possible, if force had to be used a rational person would use just enough to deescalate the situation, and a rational person would hear cries to stop and would react appropriately. An irrational and irresponsible person would resort to force immediately, and would not heed to cries for help because they feel entitled to take a person’s life. Irrational people do not deserve the right to carry deadly weapons and cannot be placed in a position where they are allowed to abuse power.

We must be so careful not to be apologists for this type of behavior by the officers we see abusing their power. The more we encourage the idea that we should just shut up and take whatever authority figures dole out to us, the more we instill that idea in their heads that they can do whatever they want, regardless of the confines of the law. Because if you give an inch, they will take a mile – and that is a guarantee. If we are granting a person nearly unquestioned power and authority over the masses, and on top of it equip them with assault weapons, then we better damn well be sure these individuals are highly intelligent, highly responsible, and highly accountable human beings. Anything less is a crime in it of itself, and our current paradigm is steps away from genuine Martial Law.

“Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

|| The Ideal Body ||

It’s no secret that the Westernized ideal body image is becoming, or rather already is, a worldwide epidemic.  I choose the word epidemic strategically, because when we take a closer look at what drives the quest for the fabled ideal body, we find a very dark reality. There are many different motivations that lead to capturing the elusive “perfect body,” but there is really one real root cause. As humans we crave acceptance, we need social support, we enjoy positive attention – and this is all normal. Throughout human history, the most desired body image has shifted drastically. Looking around it is difficult to believe now, but in certain cultures and points in history having a thicker physique indicated wealth, health, and status – thus, heavier bodies were not only accepted but preferred. As media and fashion progressed, the idea of the ideal body shifted towards a more slender figure, and so too did the cultural acceptance and preference for thin women. More and more we see how the diet, fashion, and Hollywood industries push for thinner and thinner women, even to the point of sacrificing health and sanity. Since our culture is infiltrated by these industries, and with the help of Photoshop, the general public now regards a largely unachievable body as the “perfect” one. We must ask ourselves if this extreme ideal is worth the damaging effects it has on our mental and physical health, as well as the wellness of the culture as whole.

We live in a bizarre time, plagued by the dichotomy of the obesity epidemic and the eating disorder epidemic, two genuine extremes and both equally as dangerous and damaging. What we are failing to do as a culture is to find an equilibrium of health and happiness rather than resort to the all or nothing mindset. While obesity is incredibly damaging to a person’s health, I would argue that the encouraged Western ideal body image is even more damaging mentally. Our desire to be accepted pushes many to extremes based on a body image that was manufactured by industries that profit off us feeling poorly about our physical image. The fact of the matter is that a majority of humans at their healthiest weight cannot achieve the thinness we see encouraged all around us. Even many of the actual women celebrated in the media who appear to have achieved that perfection aren’t even truly achieving it, but rather morphed into a sellable image with extreme photo editing.  Thus, the more we see this level of thinness and beauty put on a pedestal and the less we match that idealized image, the worse we feel about ourselves. So we find flaws in ourselves everywhere we look, we compare ourselves to the highly edited bodies flooding the media, and we are manipulated to believe that achieving the manufactured ideal body is the only way to happiness and acceptance. So women around the world (as well as men, although not quite as prevalent) set out on a never-ending quest for so-called perfection.

Our natural inclination as humans is to adapt in order to survive and thrive in our environment; acceptance and a sense of community are integral to thriving. Our perception of our physical selves does indeed affect how we want to be accepted by others. When we feel badly about ourselves, our human nature kicks in to remedy that. But what happens when there are other forces essentially brainwashing us into believing our worth is based on an unachievable physical appearance? Our brains get rewired to believe achieving this ideal is the most important goal and the only way to feel the acceptance we crave. Slowly logic and our biological needs go out the door, and the fixation on imaginary perfection dominates our lives. The thinner we get, the more people compliment us, the closer we feel to that goal, and the better we feel about ourselves. Because of our current culture, losing weight is a socially encouraged way to alter ourselves, so our brains receive that positive feedback we are hoping for. However, inevitably we hit that original goal and we still don’t achieve happiness, we still don’t feel perfect – so we make a new goal. And so on and so forth until there is no end in sight, no achievable perfection.  Our body and mind suffer, our starving brains turn us into a completely different person, our bodies are weak and frail, our once alive social life diminished. And as the sizes on our clothes drop and the numbers on the scale diminish, it’s still not good enough, it will never be good enough – because superficial perfection doesn’t exist.

So why then are we fed images so edited that they barely resemble the individual posing for it? Why are we pushed to feel bad about ourselves, search for non-existent flaws, and subliminally encouraged to abandon our body’s basic needs to fit into a size 0 – a size that literally represents nonexistence? The simple reason for this is because immense greed plagues our world economy. Profit above all else, including people, is the currently accepted modus operandi. There is no better way to ensure huge profit margins then to convince the masses to shell out cash in pursuit of an unachievable goal. We’ve been convinced were not thin enough, not tall enough, our skin isn’t clear enough, our hair isn’t thick enough, our breasts aren’t big enough, our eyelashes not long enough, stomach isn’t flat enough, thighs not small enough… and the list is endless. So as cultural pressure to look perfect builds, we search for remedies to these flaws that the industries created for us. We buy memberships to multiple gyms, we buy diet books and meal plans, we buy hundreds of dollars of makeup and skin products, we get plastic surgery and we focus our lives on that fictitious goal of perfection. We abandon our uniqueness and individuality in an effort to look identical to one another, to all fit the Western ideal body image.

Hollywood and the fashion industry create the story, the fabricated narrative of what perfection is, and the diet industry profits immensely from promoting that story.  The media spreads the desire to look like celebrities and models because they have a high worth in a culture that regards physical appearance as the ultimate social commodity.  These industries quite literally manipulated our inherent human nature to be accepted by others in order to profit off ostracizing us. Our real desire, though, is to find our own happiness and a loving community. By linking our physical appearance with our overall happiness they’ve trapped us in their money-making scheme. As long as our culture continues to obsess over superficial qualities, these industries will continue to sell even more unrealistic ideals, and we will continue to generously spend our money to pursue those ideals. The ruthlessness of the beauty industry is highlighted when we see toll it takes on our collective psyche, and yet the fingers are forever pointed at us as individuals rather than those truly accountable.

Feeling good about ourselves, being cognizant of our health, and wanting to fit into a supportive community are all completely normal and positive behaviors – but abandoning health and resorting to extremes to achieve an image is dangerous. Unfortunately our current culture has wholeheartedly bought into the idea that our superficial features are our greatest commodity, as if we can do anything in the world if only we could look like the men and women on the magazine covers. So now the beauty and body industries no longer need to do much convincing, since they successfully created a culture in which we police ourselves and each other. We judge, we ostracize, and we hurt one another if we feel they’re too far from the illusion of normal, and often in an effort to make ourselves feel superior. Thus it becomes a vicious cycle of yearning to fit in, feeling shamed when we don’t, and resorting to extremes to feel better about ourselves.

When you think about it, it’s quite bizarre that we should all look the same – like the Western body ideal. To achieve this, which is simply not possible, we would be essential clones of one another and lose all our beautiful individuality. In many Asian countries double eyelid surgery and leg lengthening surgery are both hugely popular plastic surgery alterations. Double eyelid surgery essentially erases the uniquely Asian eye shape by creating a crease above the eye, which also makes the eye appear larger. This is an extremely common procedure and it is so popular because it emulates the appearance of Western body ideals. Leg lengthening is an even more extreme procedure in which the legs are broken, pried apart, and set in a way to encourage bone growth in the gap created by the surgeon. When this procedure is done over a series of months the patient will get taller; once again, to more closely resemble the Western body ideal.  Because the Western media is so influential, those same images that are thrown in our faces on a daily basis are also promoted as the ideal worldwide. In the same way we are told we’re not beautiful enough, so are all men and women around the world; except they’re receiving the even more damaging message that their race isn’t beautiful enough, their skin color not light enough, their legs not long enough.  So once again in an effort to fit in and feel good, people are going so far as to erase features that are unique to their race in order to more closely fit into a calculated mold.

When we are constantly bombarded with extremely unrealistic images of what a “perfect” body should be, we are left with no choice but to feel shame and guilt when we inevitably fail to reach that purposefully unreachable goal.  So we are left with a culture of people who are physically abusing themselves and who are mentally ill from the pressure to constantly be better. We’ve been reduced to objects in the eyes of big corporations, no longer does the collective well-being of a society matter, but rather how much we are willing to spend to improve ourselves and line the pockets of the wealthy elite. The more we are told we aren’t thin enough, beautiful enough, and therefore good enough; the more we believe this to be true – the more we regard one another as competition to be defeated rather than fellow victims in a unwinnable battle.

Our culture is sick with the disease of the individual, and the disease of the superficial, and we are suffering greatly because of these mindsets. These propensities were purposefully instilled in us in order to keep us divided and distracted from what is really important. But when we remember that the negative feelings we feel about ourselves often stem from an illusion, we can begin to refocus on the evolution of our collective consciousness and our true pursuit of happiness. We can begin to support ourselves and one another in the fight to accept and celebrate our differences. Let’s love our body by filling it daily with the nutrients it craves, but let’s also celebrate the human experience by indulging in the incredible food we’re able to create, without the guilt we’re told to feel. We’ve forgotten that good food enjoyed with friends and family is such an integral part of a rich culture. We’ve forgotten that it is indeed more important and fulfilling to be truly happy then it is to punish ourselves in an effort to fit into a mold we were never meant to fit into.

|| Questioning the Quo ||

While perusing my daily dose of articles a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a piece about a woman’s decision to cease taking hormonal birth control – specifically The Pill. The experience she was describing really resonated with me and it drove me to fill the ensuing days with researching the effects of hormonal birth control on women’s mental and physical health. The information I found was shocking and enlightening on many levels. I felt like a fog lifted, so many previously unexplained aspects in my life began to make sense. After some deliberation I have also started the journey of ditching that little pill. I hope sharing some of my experience will inspire other women to rethink their reproductive health and mental wellness.

I was put on the pill by my gynecologist when I was 18 years old, just before entering college. I intended to take it primarily for contraceptive reasons, though I had some other minor menstrual issues that the pill and its pushers promised to rid me of. Mainly, though, I was scared of getting pregnant; and due to the immense lack of knowledge women are given about their own bodies and cycles, I assumed I was at risk of conceiving a child at all times. Even at the ripe age of 18 I knew I was a feminist and the way the pill is peddled as a sort of sexual liberation for women spoke to me on that level. I wanted to be liberated from the fear of pregnancy and be free to engage in sexual activity when I pleased. So I started down the road of hormonal birth control and remained on it for eight years, until finally tossing it last week.

Now it’s important to note that I am not opposed to The Pill – I am well aware it helps droves of women with various hormonal and reproductive issues and, of course, does prevent pregnancy. What I am against is the blatant lack of information given to prospective hormonal birth control takers. I am against being forcibly ignorant, and I’m against unknowingly making ill informed decisions about my body. Women deserve to know exactly what they are getting into when agreeing to go on hormonal birth control, and we deserve honesty about the potentially damaging side effects that are far more prevalent than let on by western medicine. I am against having the pill marketed to women as a one-size-fits-all remedy for being a woman. I am questioning our decision to suppress our feminine strength and energy, and I am weary of being disconnected from ourselves and our cyclical nature.

When I first met the pill as a freshman in college, I was away from home with a whole new set of stresses and changes. However, I was quite confident embarking on my college career because I had always been a laid-back, go-with-the-flow, easy-to-please person, so I assumed I would make sense of whatever was thrown at me. Depression and anxiety never even crossed my mind much less entered my emotions. Needless to say, when I began experiencing severe anxiety and borderline depression, I attributed the uncharacteristic onslaught to a slew of other variables in my life at that time. I was in a failing relationship, I was at a school I didn’t really like (though now I wonder why I didn’t really like it), and I was struggling to connect to myself. My anxiety progressed to the point where I could barely eat. I lost tons of weight and was just a bundle of nerves at every given moment. I slept a lot and went home any chance I could. When I went home I would lay in bed and cry for hours, unable to be consoled. I genuinely believed I had lost my personality, my humor, and all those characteristics I’d always identified with. I was lost and in deep emotional pain.

Though I tried many alternatives for alleviating my anxiety, nothing rid me of it. I worked out daily, I forced myself to be social, I did yoga and meditation, I went to a therapist; and although these helped slightly the underlying discomfort and panic remained. I decided the root cause of my sudden shift in life perspective was due to my dislike of the school I’d chosen – I thought it was my dream school but simply wasn’t living up to my expectations. I also placed much of the blame on the inability to let go of my relationship, which was far from healthy at the time. So I decided to transfer schools, and I felt good about the decision. My anxiety seemed to subside a bit at first, but when my boyfriend broke up with me a few weeks into attending the new school the anxiety surged once again. While I do think having anxiety over a painful breakup is normal, I am confident it was not normal at the relentless level I was experiencing it.

After a few months spent on trying to salvage my first love, I finally decided I was tired of it. I could no longer allow it to affect my life the way it did. I called my gynecologist and asked her to prescribe me an anti-anxiety medication. She quickly did over-the-phone with absolutely no mention that what I was feeling could potentially be linked to the birth control I had started a year earlier. The medicine did help immensely, though it left me with the classic flat mood associated with anxiety medications.  I wasn’t feeling ideal, but I was infinitely better than I had been. I slowly weaned myself off the medication when I felt like I could stand on my own two feet again. Incidentally I also changed birth control pills at some point during this time. I had been on Loestrin since I started, and was then changed to a different generic. I didn’t think much of the switch, as I trusted my doctors to know what was best. In my eyes the pill posed no potential effects on me at that point, since I was only taking it for contraception after all.

I was much better for a while, I loved my new school and friends, I felt like my inner light returned. However for almost the remainder of my college career I didn’t have sex once – and not because I was trying to avoid it. I would joke to my friends about my “dry spell” as it extended months upon months. They were shocked and asked how it didn’t bother me; I would respond that I simply didn’t think about sex and eventually just got used to never having it, almost like I became A-sexual. Of course, it never occurred to me that this new pill could be affecting me in yet another way. My moods seemed much more stable, but now I was simply not interested in sexual activity. This was definitely unusual for my former self as well, as I always had a healthy sex drive. Now I know that decreased libido is a very common side effect of hormonal birth control.

I continued on taking that little pill throughout college and my adult life all the way up to this point, I switched between a few popular ones including Ortho Tricyclin and various generics. Throughout the years since starting hormonal birth control I experienced on and off anxiety, thinning hair, low libido, flat mood, mood swings, among other things – all the while never even considering that this could be from the pill. About two years ago I began experiencing very noticeably thinning hair and an outbreak of acne, something I never had an issue with. Let me tell you, adult acne is just about the biggest disaster for self-esteem you could imagine. I was confused and defeated, I always had great skin my entire life, where was this coming from out of nowhere? My ponytail decreased nearly half in size or more. Once again… never thought about the common denominator of all these issues, I just naturally assumed it was aging (even though I’m only 25) and this was just how life was going to be from here on out.  What a bummer!

Amidst my freak-out, I called my gynecologist – a new one since I moved to Colorado after school – begging to switch birth control pills in an effort to clear my acne. She told me that all birth controls are known to reduce acne – which I actually don’t even think is true after my research – but agreed to switch me to one called Vestura. (I’ve recently researched this brand, and it is a generic form of Yas and gets terrible user reviews.) My acne didn’t improve with the switch so I went to a dermatologist who helped me clear my face. Not once did any medical professional that I saw during this time inform me that this could be a side effect of hormonal birth control. So onwards I went with yet another daily dosage of synthetic hormones and a hodgepodge of various chemicals.

I’ve now been on my latest pill, Vestura, for just over a year and I’ve noticed some very obvious effects. I get near daily unexplained headaches that sometimes progress to migraines lasting for days. I have a very flat mood, meaning I don’t get really excited for much even when I should. I am irritable and will snap at random and meaningless events and conversations. I have mood swings that start at irritability and progress to sadness and crying out of nowhere. I have a much lower libido then I used to (on my last pill) and have a difficult time achieving orgasm  – another issue I’d never experienced.  No matter how much I work out or how well I eat, I can’t seem to build much muscle or rid of the few pounds I wouldn’t mind losing. All of these things have compounded over the years and it suddenly occurred to me that I don’t even know what kind of person I am anymore. If someone asked me to describe myself, all those characteristics I identify with and believe deeply in my heart are indicative of the person I am… on the outside, currently, are not being mirrored. I don’t want to be this way, and I refuse to believe I should just chalk it up to who I am as I age.

Now as my eyes are more and more opened to the severe issues that can arise from ingesting the pill every day of our fertile adult lives, I realize that all these mysterious changes that arose over the years are actually very likely due to hormonal contraceptives. As I read through the material it’s all coming into focus, and it all makes sense. I admit, part of me is a bit angry that not one of the health care professionals I’ve seen over the years told me these things could be connected to the pill – in fact, many of them will brush off any concerns you may have in relation to the pill – and I feel like I lost some years of my life in a way. Yes, I was aware of the soft spoken side effects I’d heard in the commercials filled with laughing frollicing women. Ignorantly I always assumed those were the rare outliers; I was a healthy individual, it shouldn’t effect me, and the doctors convinced me it was worth it.  I’ve seen countless testimonials from other women whose experiences with the pill matched mine, were sometimes much worse, and who also decided to ditch the pill in an effort to reconnect to their natural selves and cycles.

As I said before, I don’t think that pill is detrimental to all women. But I do think that hormonal contraception messes with our internal processes and our natural fertility cycles in ways that have the potential to be very harmful on our physical and mental health. There are women who have medical issues that genuinely benefit from being on the pill to regulate their hormones when their body may need assistance in doing so. But to sell a serious medication, with the same kinds of side effects of other pharmaceuticals, as a one-size-fits all “cure for the disease of being a woman” (as an article I read so eloquently states), then we enter dangerous waters. You see, cramps are normal, PMS is normal, hormonal acne is normal, menstruation is normal – and if we are having issues with these processes, then it is our body telling us that we are off balance somewhere. When we see these messages we need to fix it from the root rather than pop a pill to trick our bodies into stopping or altering those processes. When we depend on chemicals to fix these problems – that are simply marketed to us as problems rather than natural cycles – then we are putting a bandage on the issue rather than locating the root of the beast.

Hormones are an incredibly complex bodily function, and when they are out of whack we can experience some serious mental and physical turmoil. The slightest off kilter hormone production can send us reeling. Why, then, are a majority of women under the impression that there is simply no way the pill is affecting them in a harmful or unnatural way, even when their bodies are screaming otherwise? When you really think about it – how could pumping synthetic hormones and chemicals into us every day not be harming us? Furthermore, when you follow the money that hormonal contraceptives rake in on a monthly basis, you find that it goes into the pockets of the pharmaceutical companies. Pharmaceutical companies that spend more money marketing their products to doctors then on actually testing their products effectiveness and safety. These companies ignore the anecdotal evidence that hormonal contraceptives cause serious medical issues so that they can avoid conducting legitimate testing on them; because they know better than anyone what the findings will show. And when you have doctors attending schools where the books are published by those same money making pharmaceutical companies, it’s no wonder doctors peddle these pills just as blindly.  It’s no secret that Big Pharma has a big bottom line, and that bottom line is not our safety and health. Their bottom line is their ever expanding cash flow – cash flow that directly correlates with how “sick” the public remains. So what’s better than to dub an entire portion of the population incurably ill, merely because they are a fertile female.

As women who were educated in the United States we weren’t even taught an inkling of how our cycles or fertility work. We aren’t taught that we are actually only fertile for 6 days maximum in a cycle, with only one of those days being ovulation (when the egg can actually be fertilized). We aren’t taught that our cycle can be tracked down to the day we are ovulating.  We aren’t taught that with the knowledge of our cycles alone we can avoid pregnancy or give ourselves an immensely higher chance at conceiving when desired. We aren’t taught that those issues like cramping and heavy periods and acne can often be remedied through balancing hormones naturally using homeopathy. We aren’t taught that when we are intimately familiar with our cycles we can predict our moods and how our bodies will feel on a given day. We aren’t taught that issues with menstruation and feminine health can be spotted instantly when we know how to track our cycles. We aren’t told that not having a real period is incredibly detrimental because it’s our circadian rhythm of natural cleansing. We aren’t taught that our body’s ovulation can sync with the moon cycles, and that it can be an incredibly magical experience. We aren’t taught how not to be afraid of being a woman. We aren’t taught to take control of our divine feminine power.

After all this research I can’t help but be a bit cynical about why the pill gained such rapid popularity as the ultimate freedom accessory for a woman. Sure, it may prevent pregnancy, may give us light to non existent periods, may reduce cramping; but when your libido is squashed, your moods are intense and sporadic, and you can’t get excited, and are holding extra weight on your body, I have to wonder how many women will still desire much in the way of sex anyway. Makes me wonder if while these anecdotes of the negative experiences caused by hormonal contraception surfaced throughout the years, if they came as a welcome side effect to keep the female population subdued, crazy, and out-of-tune with their real power – because those ideas align well with our traditionally patriarchal society.

As a woman suffering with the disease of womanhood, I am pro-contraceptives, I am pro-choice, I am pro-sexual freedom.  I am not, however, a supporter of blind western medicine or of greedy pharmaceutical companies who benefit off us being ridden with disease. I am not a supporter of profit over people. I believe every woman, and person for that matter, deserves real truthful insight into the medications they are prescribed and encouraged to take.  Every woman has a right to receive an accurate and fact based answer when she questions her health care professionals about the side effects and safety of hormonal contraceptives. Every woman deserves to have medical institutions dedicated to studying the real effects of hormonal birth control so she can make an informed decision. Every woman should be encouraged to get to know herself on an intimate level and embrace all that is the divine feminine. We should remember that anytime we halt or mask our body’s natural rhythms with synthetic bandages, we are merely suppressing them inwards to transform into a different issue that will inevitably rear its ugly head. Let’s remember that while western medicine and technology are irreplaceable in their own respects, we still possess the same makeup as the Earth, and that her medicine can be found in the most beautiful of places.

We are wild women, don’t let them tame us!

---

I am about a week into my transition off the pill, and I am already feeling the positive changes my body is making. I plan to do an update or two about my experience going off the pill and returning to a natural balance in hopes to encourage and help any other woman who decides to take the leap too!

I’ve included some very helpful links I encourage all women to read and see if they can relate. I didn’t even get into the half of story when it comes to hormonal birth control and its effects. The comment sections are where I find a lot of anecdotal information, so I find it helpful to peruse those too!

Hormonal Birth Control Side Effects (the ones not regularly talked about):

Why I Will Never Take The Pill Again 

A Bitter Pill to Swallow 

How the Pill Became a Lifestyle Drug

The Dark Side of Birth Control 

Your Contraceptives Can Affect Your Mental Health 

We Need to Talk Birth Control and Anxiety 

No Shit Birth Control Hormones Can Kill Desire 

Can Birth Control Pills Cause Mood Swings and Depression? – I particularly love the conflicting nature of the the article and the commentary below. Consider the mainstream medical source as well, when the author makes comments like… well the research says no but tons of anecdotal evidence says otherwise – curious.

Worth its Weight: The Debate about Birth Control and Weight Gain

Birth Control Made My Hair Fall Out 

About That Time Birth Control Made Me Go Insane 

My Birth Control Pills Induced Acute Mental Disorder

Videos:

Birth Control Making Us Crazy 

Drop That Pill 

Why I Stopped The Pill 

One woman’s decision to stop the pill and her journey: 2 week update & 6 month update – she does several updates in between and they are really wonderful to watch as she regains balance!

Alternative Contraception Methods (besides the ones you know):

A MUST READ for every woman: Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler

Fertility Awareness Method – No, this is NOT the very unreliable Rhythm Method associated with religious families. When practiced correctly (as all contraceptive methods must be) it is over 99% effective at preventing unwanted pregnancies. There is a lot of misinformation out there when it comes to this method – I suspect because it is free and sans pharmaceuticals.

How To Transition Off Hormonal Birth Control:

How To Balance Your Hormones Naturally

Going Off The Pill?

A Guide 

|| The True War on Freedom ||

Upon listening to a podcast where the topic of legal marijuana came up, I was inspired to write a bit about the miserably failing War on Drugs in this country. I live in the picturesque state of Colorado, which also happens to lead the country in legal weed infrastructure. So I have witnessed first-hand the benefits of legalizing weed and I believe I am equipped to reconsider the outdated philosophies of the government’s approach on drug usage.

Since the legalization in 2012, Denver has risen to top dog in the marijuana world – even surpassing infamous Amsterdam. There are weed dispensaries on every corner. No matter where you are standing in this city you are likely less than a mile from a ganja store. Regardless of this astonishing reality, the demand is still outpacing the supply. Yet despite the pot industries massive success, day-to-day life in Denver is strikingly similar to that of pre-legalization. Contrary to the manufactured horror the mainstream media tried tirelessly to create, Colorado has only benefited from giving citizens back some of their freedom. A few of the positives include an estimated 60 million in taxes from weed sales – which is going towards schools and infrastructure – and falling crime statistics. Beyond that, the pot industry is a huge factor behind Colorado achieving near total employment; when other states continue to struggle in this area, Colorado has created thousands of lucrative jobs for its citizens. Furthermore, this industry is not slowing down and likely won’t for the foreseeable future; analysts project it could become a 50 billion dollar industry – all of which will continue to directly benefit the Coloradan public.

Even as the rest of the country looks on with intrigue, opposing politicians are still attempting to rationalize their feeble arguments against legalization. Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, recently vowed to crack down on state’s legalization of marijuana if he were to be president. Not only is this a political death sentence in the long run – since most people see how successful Colorado’s example is – but it exposes exactly where Christie’s loyalty lies. His rational isn’t based in fact or analytical thinking (or even intellectual thinking for that matter), it’s paid for by the major conglomerates that benefit from keeping marijuana out of the legal sphere. It seems like it may also be perpetuated by his personal misconceived bigotries towards marijuana. “So sorry Chris that you got high when you were a teenager and were convinced you were being watched by goblins. Sincerely, Weed” Christie still maintains that marijuana is a gateway drug – an idea that is not scientifically or anecdotally supported – and insists that weed is a direct contributor to the country’s drug addiction problem. So, instead of reconsidering how to treat the condition of drug addiction, Christie insists that the same old song and dance of “cracking down” is somehow going to magically transform the landscape of addiction in his country, regardless of the fact that it has never and will never remedy it.

Continuing to illustrate how benign marijuana really is, is just sort of ridiculous. To me, there is one legitimate question that should be asked – can weed kill people? – No? – Well that’s settled then! For whatever reason this overwhelming fact isn’t enough for the opposition, they argue potential addiction and other entirely fabricated threats. Shall we start asking the same damning questions of alcohol, cigarettes, and highly processed food? Ironically, if we did, we would find irrefutable evidence of the extreme harm all three of those entirely legal substances pose. To address the idea of marijuana addiction, I’d like to borrow the words of one of my favorite dissentients, Joe Rogan:

“Marijuana is no more addictive than playing video games, it’s an addiction in terms of you decide that you need it in your life – just like a person can be additive. But there’s no physical properties that make it addictive; unless you have some really weird biology.”

Weed is simply not inherently addictive; it is merely one of a myriad of substances to which an individual can focus their addictive energy on. People are addicted to some bizarre things but that doesn’t make the subject of that addiction inherently addictive on biological level. For instance, because I see someone on TV addicted to eating couch cushions (see Strange Addictions) does that mean everyone has the potential to enjoy eating couches – much less be addicted to doing so? Of course not! Our entire culture is addicted to consuming, to the point that we are doing real tangible damage, and yet consumption is pushed as the norm. Our complete and utter dissociation from the bleak reality that our throw-away culture creates is arguably the single most destructive addictive behavior in the history of the human race. And yet we look around and the addiction continues to flourish. Maybe it’s just me, but I cannot understand the fearmongering surrounding legalization when we continue to be hugely hypocritical about other legal and destructive behaviors and substances.

What else can politicians, who insist on squandering tax money on their ineffective dream of cracking down on those damn delinquent pot smokers, present as an intellectual argument against nationwide legalization? The idea that weed is a gateway drug is reaching at best – in reality it’s a stale tagline from the D.A.R.E. classes we took in school. Drug addiction is entirely more complicated than a person’s decision to hit the blunt – which in no way condemns them to a life of scaling the ladder of addictive substances. Research, and frankly common sense, shows that the true factors of addiction revolve around poverty and social environment, certain personality disorders and mental illnesses, and the actions of a person’s surrounding social groups (i.e. hanging out with others who abuse hard drugs).  Perhaps most ironically, one of the other main contributors to drug addiction is the criminalization and prohibition of the substances themselves. So not only is keeping drugs illegal ineffective, but it’s actually directly contradictory to the intended goal.

If anti-legalizers like Christie genuinely wanted to protect people from becoming addicted to drugs then they would be conducting real objective research on effective approaches to a very destructive issue. They would be looking at examples like the one in Portugal, a country where a disproportionally large percentage of citizens suffered from drug addiction before they made the radical decision to decriminalize all drugs. Rather than perpetuating the ineffective practice of treating people who are addicted to drugs as criminals, the Portuguese lawmakers were interested in actually helping these suffering people. Now, a decade later, they’ve seen an enormous drop in drug addiction, criminal activity, and incarcerated criminals because they began to treat addiction as the disease that it is. Portugal came to terms with the integral reality that the idea of a drug-free world is nothing more than a fantasy. So instead of wasting money on insisting cracking down is the best solution, they adjusted their goals to ones centered on helping people. Does that mean we shouldn’t warn people against the dangers of drug addiction? – Absolutely not. But we should accept that the best way to deal with a real problem, is to acknowledge the realities of the goals we’re trying to reach. We likely will never see a drug free world, but we can definitely hope for a world in which people use responsibly and have access to help when they need it.

Considering the successful examples of Portugal and Colorado the road to success should be clear. If we as a culture are concerned with alleviating the detriments of drug addiction, then we should be willing to admit that our current approach is not the way to do it. However, it is important to note that there are three major reasons the idea of drug decriminalization is vehemently opposed: big pharmaceutical companies, the industrial prison complex, and the governing elite. In legalizing marijuana alone the pharmaceutical conglomerates would lose significant profit to people who would rather opt for marijuana to alleviate their medical conditions, because it doesn’t come with the side-effects of prescription drugs and isn’t addictive (like many prescription drugs). If drugs were decriminalized then the hundreds of thousands of people currently incarcerated for non-violent drug offenses (some for life!) would regain their rightful freedom. The United States has the highest percentage of their population incarcerated in the world; and the two largest privatized prison companies made a combined 3.3 billion dollars in revenue in 2011 (and has surely increased since). I don’t think it’s a coincidence that politicians continue to oppose ceasing criminalization of drugs when these for-profit prisons contributed over 20 million dollars in lobbying expenditures in the last decade. When you follow the money you can quickly locate the web of corruption and lies that plague our current system.

Mass media engrained these damaging myths into our collective thinking through creating fear and fabricating reasons to pit people against one another in any way that they can. The other important influencer of why politicians oppose decriminalization of drugs is because of the power structure that is currently in place. A very small minority of people have managed to hoard nearly all of the world’s money by creating structures that lie and take advantage of the masses. The bottom line is that when the masses are united the rule of the elite wealthy minority would be dissolved almost immediately – so it is in their best financial interest to invest in keeping people scared and angry at one another. When we demand governments and laws that truly support the best interest of people, and we create a culture focused on being loving and inclusive, then the very fabric of the current paradigm would disintegrate – because it’s based on fear and hatred.

I ask us to consider this…if we decide to help and not punish those addicted to drugs, a portion of those associated profits stop getting funneled to the greedy top dwellers. If we decide to actually progress by educating people properly about drug use and addiction, then we risk the possibility that there is such a thing as safe drug use.  If we unbiasedly research Schedule 1 drugs, we may find that there are incredibly benefits to these forbidden drugs. If we allow people to make their own responsible choices with their bodies, we may find that some drugs hold the potential to dissolve the boundaries of reality and expose the illusions of the culture we currently occupy. Once that happens, once a person’s mind is opened and stretched beyond what were fed by false news it can never return to its former dimensions. Once we realize that the idea of separation is a myth, we can embrace the idea of community. Once we base our culture in love, we will reject the current structure forced upon us. And this is key – those who are currently in power will continue to do everything to keep themselves in power… even if that means feeding us lies and propagating hate.  Something that we’ve forgotten, and what the powers at be know on a deep level, is that we are more powerful then we even know; as soon as we awaken and unite, they no longer stand a chance. In the end, our current politicians and corporate tyrants can try to deny and hide the truth until they’re read in the face, but in the end, truth always prevails.

“The most dangerous phrase in the human language, is ‘we’ve always done it this way.’”

An Ode to Women’s Best Friend

“You were wild once, don’t let them tame you.”

My creative juices are surging slowly these days. Perhaps it’s laziness, perhaps a lack of inspiration – such is the life of a writer! So in an effort to get cranking again I racked my brain for something that truly inspires me without fail, and a few things always arise; travel, environmental awareness, and awakening consciousness. However, these are all topics I plan to write plenty on throughout my globe-trotting, so what is the one other thing that always gets me excited? – The Diva Cup, or I suppose more accurately, a menstrual cup. Yes, this post will be my ode to a small silicon cup that has unquestionably changed my life, and strangely enough I may still manage to incorporate all those other themes I mentioned!

While this post is obviously geared more towards those visited by their monthly flow, I encourage everyone to read it regardless of where you fall on the gender scale. Try putting yourself in another’s shoes. Our culture is funny because everywhere you look you see sex advertised to sell just about everything, and yet we are afraid to talk about it in any meaningful way. The US has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the world, for one reason and one reason only, we lack the proper education. Since we’ve long ago abandoned the separation of Church and State, we stupidly teach our youth that the only way is abstinence, we teach them that whatever deity they believe in will disapprove of those who succumb to an entirely natural instinct. Yet the reality is that people have sex, lots of it, and they’re not stopping anytime soon. So instead of wasting energy on teaching the entirely futile tactic of abstinence, why not make sex a far less taboo subject in our cultural conversation? Instead of surrounding a beautiful human desire with guilt and wrongness we should be teaching our youth of its importance, the importance of respecting yourself and your body, and the importance of knowing how to engage in sexual activities safely and with body positive intentions.

I am tired of seeing young girls being more and more sexualized, I am tired of young boys not knowing how to view the female body as more than an just an object, but as a complete and sacred being, just as they themselves are. Our culture’s propensity to mass produce pornography without acknowledging that it’s not how real and meaningful sex actually is, is not healthy or helpful to anyone of any gender. We sit here flipping through magazines, surfing the internet, and watching commercials featuring hyper-sexualized bodies in just about any form and fashion you could imagine. Yet the same people who guiltlessly consume this cultural fad are the ones embarrassed to talk about menstrual cycles, the ones who get angry when they see a mother breastfeeding her newborn. Instead our society squirms when talking about the very building blocks of life, the very reasons we are even here. Boobs on billboards for fried chicken and beer are just fine, but a woman engaging in one of the most human experiences is ridiculed. These hypocritical reactions are proof of the collective immaturity and insecurity of our culture. If we can’t embrace sex in its entirety, including the aspects that don’t involve superficial pleasure, then we aren’t giving it the respect it deserves, and we certainly aren’t respecting ourselves in the process.

So instead of getting squeamish or embarrassed, let’s celebrate the remarkable processes that allows life to be possible. Why should we be ashamed that our bodies possess such an innate knowledge to survive and thrive? Is it because it temporarily takes a women off the sexual market? Because we don’t want to think about them clutching their bodies in pain and leaking blood on their sheets? Let’s stop deeming these natural and normal parts of life unacceptable to openly talk about, instead let’s aim to understand them and appreciate them for exactly what they are. There is no need to pretend that women don’t bleed for several days on a monthly basis, because for a woman it is a very real part of their life experience; just as there is no need to aggressively push abstinence as the only cure for remaining pure (sarcasm!). In indigenous cultures women are revered during their cycle, it’s celebrated as a symbolic and spiritual time. Some literally believe it is an incredible source of strength and could ward off storms and enemies. We should take notes from these supposed “uncivilized” people and cast away unnecessary cultural taboos, stop making arbitrary aspects of life forbidden, and refuse to adhere guilt and shame to some of the most powerful human experiences.

---

With all that being said, periods can indeed really suck. No longer do women get put on a pedestal when we begin our monthly cycle, no longer are we fed feasts and encouraged to do nothing. Now we’re forced to adhere to the rat race regardless of the fact we may be on the precipice of bleeding out (can seem like that sometimes). Now menstruation is the butt of jokes in comedy and movies; new-to-puberty teens giggle at the tampon string dangling from the blissfully ignorant girl’s swimsuit. So we plug that shit up as quickly as possible. We hold back our facial winces inflicted by our uterine swords. We stifle our internal gasp at the dreaded feeling of an unforgiving leak at the company picnic. Because remember ladies, a vagina is good for one reason, and one reason only – selling fried chicken and beer.

Due to the unfortunate circumstances surrounding this special time of month, most of us can’t just stay home to sit in a hot bath with candles and emotional music. Most of us are not about to tell our male boss that we can’t make it to the meetings today because our uterus is attempting a Shawshank worthy escape from our very body. The last thing we want to use our precious paid time off on is subduing mother monthly while she goes Pulp Fiction on our underwear. So instead we persevere through this trying time of cramps, acne, mood swings, and leaks… all the while, keeping it under tight wraps except to our closest mates.

Now begins my ode to what is quite possibly my favorite female counterpart – the menstrual cup. To say it changed my life is honestly not even that much of a hyperbole. In fact, I nearly get excited for my moon cycle just so I can use my cup and revel in the joy and amazement it brings each and every time. Any time anyone, friends and strangers alike, brings up their period in any fashion I transform into Diva Cup’s unpaid spokesperson. I am like a new mother gushing about her baby that no one really cares about, except that I am gushing about gushing. Seriously though, all jokes aside, it really is a spectacularly useful piece of flow damming equipment. I am proud to say that I abandoned tampons, panty liners, pads, ruined underwear and period panic long ago – and I ain’t ever lookin’ back! So please join me in appreciating the many convincing reasons to abandon your outdated Shark Week folly.

I’d like to note that there are several worthy models of menstrual cups that all provide the same glorious benefits. I personally use The Diva Cup, so for that reason – and because I think it is a hilarious name and I am transformed into a true-life diva when I use it – I will refer to it as such.  For those that aren’t familiar with menstrual cups, they are small flexible cups made from medical grade silicone that are inserted into the vagina, catch your vampire tears (period blood), and can then be emptied and reused for years and years.

• Environmentally conscious: According to the book Flow: The Cultural History of Menstruation, the average woman throws away 250 to 300 pounds of menstrual waste in her lifetime. While it may not seem like too much for the individual, when you multiply that times those lucky billions who are graced with their period… it is a hell of a lot. Upwards of 31 tons. Somewhere out there, there is a tampon lake (try not to picture it). Sure there are much more environmentally damaging and waste producing activities out there then pluggin’ up the cookie for the week, but I think that thought process needs to change. We shouldn’t be rationalizing our reckless abandon for the Earth by assuring ourselves we could be much worse. Instead we should be making small and steady shifts in our own lives to live more mindfully and push for a more sustainable society. When you evolve into a Diva you are by far taking the biggest leap into greenness when it comes to your redness. With the Diva Cup you will rid entirely of your period associated waste. The cup is reusable and reloveable for years if taken care of.

– Think, no more trying to discretely dispose of your tampons or pads in a bathroom plastered in warning signs against flushing feminine products… and also incidentally don’t have a trash bag in their trash cans, or a single item of trash in their trash cans for that matter. Isn’t it ironic, don’t ya think!

---

• Cost Effective: Women spend approximately $60 per year on menstrual products, and could be up to $80 or more depending on brand names and what quantity you require to tame your beast. On average, a woman has her period for 37 years in Western countries. So that is an approximate total (for the budget conscious woman) of over 2 grand on items we essentially buy to throw away. The Diva Cup, in all its reusable glory, costs about $30. Thus the Diva pays for itself many times over. As a loyal menstrual cup cult member, you would likely only need to purchase 4 cups maximum in a menstruation lifetime, since one can last up to 10 years. I will take a $120 fee for being a woman any day over a couple grand or more. Plus you can feel good about reducing the amount of money you give to giant corporations who profit off keeping people feeling grossed out about periods.
  

  ---

• Better for Your Body: Unlike tampons and pads, menstrual cups are sans bleaches, irritating chemicals and fragrances amongst other strange mad-scientist words you can’t pronounce. Perhaps the biggest proof of this is that there is no risk for TSS (Toxic Shock Syndrome) with the cups. Since tampons work through absorbency they can cause bacterial infections that can, though rare, be fatal. Even though most women don’t have to worry much about the possibility of contracting TSS, you can still rest easy knowing your Diva is the ultimate warrior against vaginal infections’ dreams. While a pad doesn’t pose the same risk of bacterial infection as tampons do, any lady knows the immense discomfort that is a pad. Rashes, itching, squirming in your seat, weird adhesive sticking to your lady bits are amongst pads’ charms – oh and unless you want a built in flotation device forget about taking a dip in the pool with a pad on. The Diva Cup boasts none of these cons and retains your natural feminine balance. Though I don’t know of a specific scientific study that proves it, there is quite a bit of anecdotal evidence that menstrual cups even reduce the dreaded period cramps. I myself have certainly experienced less pain around that time.
  

  ---

• Freedom from Period Anxiety: By far one of my favorite benefits of the Diva is the complete annihilation of aunt flow angst. Farewell to the panicked realization that you suddenly got your period two days early and there are no tampons in sight. Adios to the inevitably scathed underwear on days one and two of your moon cycle. Goodbye to the Olympic 100m Sprints to the port-o-dungeons during your spandex laden volleyball match only to discover there’s no toilet paper and vomit on the seat. Chao to the hungover mornings next to someone you thought looked much different the night before, only to discover you’ve left permanent proof of the conquest on the sheets. Maybe it’s just me but sometimes I drink a little too much and forget to take care of my lady business and wake up scorned by the now inescapable necessity to launder my sheets. I hate laundry! Now I leap and bound in a field of dreams, cradled by a loyal Diva friend who would never dare let me down in such a way. When you make the switch you can enjoy the freedom of passing out drunk in a stranger’s bed or drooling on a tropical beach without worrying whether you are flooding your immediate area – dream big because the Diva is the ultimate period ninja.
  

  ---

• Comfort of a Cadillac: Menstrual cups are bar none when it comes to comfortability. When inserted properly (which does take practice) you literally can’t feel it. You can “set it and forget it” just like you saw on TV for those who can’t keep track of what they are cooking for dinner. Your active life will be changed forever, you can now follow your long lost dream of becoming a Cirque de Soliel acrobat because you will no longer fear losing focus on the tightrope due to the overwhelming sensation of over-soaked cotton between your legs. I’m actually willing to bet menstrual cups are a mandatory part of the uniform for contortionists, purely because someone higher up demands that your life be more comfortable and carefree. What I would give to go back to those years of high school sports games tainted by frustrating delinquent periods that tampons refuse to cooperate with. Somehow, even though it feels like you are inserting identically every time, some will still end up sideways, upside down, inside out. Even worse when your period is nearing its anticipated end and inserting and extracting tampons becomes one of the most unpleasant feelings of all time. Not to mention when removing tampons during your dryer times they can cause small tears and leave unnatural fibers inside you. Guess what – surprise! – Diva Cups do none of the above!
  

  ---

• Take Back Stolen Time: Since menstrual cups only need to be changed every 12 hours or so (slightly more or less depending on where you are in your cycle) you can reduce all those covert bathroom missions, complete with miscellaneous menstrual paraphernalia tucked into your waistband and socks. You can forever eliminate the unfortunate series of events that is the recent tampon change followed by a cup of coffee that proceeds to send you runing back to the bathroom minutes later to relieve yourself – shucks! Now this tampon will never live up to its full absorbent potential and must be consequently flushed due to a pee infested dangly string. With the Diva you can look forward to many a bathroom break free of the monotonous plug exchange or unpleasant tearing away of used pad adhesive, and you won’t have to worry about leftovers from your eliminations. Also, properly placed cups are virtually leak proof, so no unnecessary changes when a pseudo-leak cons you into thinking your tampon needs changing. Ridding of leaks also removes the guesswork of when to change to a different level of absorbency, since the cup holds whatever liquid it can – the one size fits all vaginal accessory.
  

  ---

• The Ultimate Adventure Accessory: Nevermind crossing your fingers in hopes you’ve packed enough tampons for your wilderness camping trip; nevermind having to carry back your used feminine products to the main camp to dispose it properly in front of all your coolest friends. Instead, pack one trustworthy item that will be sure to last for however long you need it and won’t send you hustling to the nearest sign of civilization to re-up on your cotton. Menstrual cups truly shine most when traveling, especially in the outdoors or internationally. You never know when you’ll find yourself in a bind in a foreign country where there simply aren’t any stores to purchase feminine products in the nearby vacinity. Sure you can ruin a pair of shorts and undies, but it certainly will not make for very nice day of sightseeing. Luckily, you read this list before your great adventure and simply got out your handy-dandy Diva Cup from your backpack and kissed your worries goodbye – you go girl. You will never be more thankful for your cup companion then on adventures, it will do everything you need and more.
  

  ---

• Embrace Your Body, Be a Badass: Most women cringe at the thought of switching to a menstrual cup, they can’t stomach the thought that you do indeed have to get a bit down and dirty with your bad self. Sure, it’s a bit weird at first, a little out of your comfort zone; but with dedication and perseverance you will be a period pro in no time. As always, there is a plethora of helpful information online to help you through the transition. Don’t get discouraged if it seems to be taking some time to get the hang of it, I am sure you had a similar experience your first time with tampons. I can guarantee it will be worth it. Once we start rethinking the arbitrary cultural norms that induce a sense of disgust associated with our menstruation we will begin to realize that this is simply part of our beautiful body and its natural cycles, and the aversion will subside. Besides whatever minor grossness you may feel at first will very quickly be squashed by the glorious benefits a menstrual cup has to offer.

I guess the moral of the story is don’t let society tell you when your vagina is cool and uncool. Take back that time of the month, grab a menstrual cup, and start going-with-the-flow!

---

If you are interested in another sustainable lifestyle change check out my friend’s blog that features a recent post on DIY harm-free household cleaners, amongst other tips for a happy healthy lifestyle!

Stay Wild Ladies!

|| Creative Money Making ||

In our ever increasing efforts to save as much as we can for our world travels, Weber and I are getting as creative as possible to draw in extra cash flow. We are on the precipice of purging most of what we own and selling as much as we can through yard sales, second hand stores, Craigslist and Ebay; but we aren’t quite there yet. In the interim we are using Airbnb to rent out both our currently empty spare room and our mini motorhome. I really wasn’t sure what to expect from the whole experience, but I must say I am very pleasantly surprised at how much interest we’ve gotten. We’ve had the camper posted for a few weeks and the spare room posted less than a week and we are already projected at nearly $600 for the month of March, and we have multiple bookings for April as well. This will be so helpful in subsidizing some of our rental expenses, and allows us to put more away in our savings each month. Not to mention it’s genuinely fun to meet people from all over the world who are on the move. Since our camper is a bit quirky, it tends to attract some really interesting, open-minded people. More than just making money, it’s a way to forge friendships with travelers from around the globe – which is a worthwhile experience in it of itself.

We also plan to utilize Airbnb when we are traveling, since there is a massive global network of people. Some places, like Denver, don’t have great options as far as inexpensive lodging or youth hostels, so Airbnb is an excellent alternative resource. Since Airbnb is predominantly based on trust, because you let strangers stay in your house with your valuables (though they do have a host guarantee that covers damages or stolen items), the reviews you receive are important. Before I accept anyone I always check their reviews to see if they seem like a good fit for our house. So we decided hosting a bit before we left would also be a good way to build up some positive reviews that may benefit us later, and of course make us some extra money. We also host people from the Couchsurfing network. Couchsurfing is completely free and is mostly a good karma community, which I think is great. Again you meet people from all over the world, and most times they are interested in experiencing the local culture so they will often spend a lot of time with their hosts exploring the city. Hosting couchsurfers doesn’t generate any immediate revenue but again, positive reviews are sort of like currency when you are traveling. Reviews on Couchsurfing are potentially even more important since it’s entirely based on trust and good faith. Although we’re not making money from it at the moment it will positively affect our savings because we will have options for free accommodation, and have a chance to hang with the locals – which is the best way to travel!

Airbnb and Couchsurfing are both great options to consider if you have the space to rent or share with fellow globetrotters. You don’t have to have a fancy room or high end apartment in order to rent it out on Airbnb either. As I mentioned, a lot of places, especially in the United States, don’t always have good options for low cost accommodations; and many times that is high on the list of importance for shoestring travelers. Usually nomads aren’t looking for the top of the line, but rather a good location and as low cost as possible. I saw a listing in Denver for air mattresses and beanbag chairs in an apartment living room that were renting for $40 a night – and people raved in the reviews! There are lots of people looking for unique and cheap experiences. Our camper gets so much interest, a lot of people really like the idea of spending their nights in there, and it stands out from the crowd of rentable rooms because it’s different. I was thinking you could even set up a bigger tent in a yard and put a comfortable mattress of sorts in there and rent it for $20. Obviously it is a bit more difficult to attract renters if you aren’t in a city, but there is always a need for cheap accommodation wherever you are located. Think outside the box and see if you’ve got any potential rentable space in your living quarters – your savings will surely appreciate it! Another option to consider is renting your apartment or room on weekends you know you will be traveling. Airbnb allows you to block off any dates on your calendar and only allow bookings for certain nights, so with a bit of planning you can figure out what weekends might be available. Every little bit helps!

I also found a part time job that allows me to work remote several hours a week simply by posting in my NextDoor community. NextDoor is a great website that connects everyone in your immediate surrounding area; people can post classifieds, help wanted, free stuff, urgent alerts, and other neighborhood interests. I decided to post here instead of get a restaurant job because I really wanted to have something flexible that would allow me to work from wherever I please. I also really wasn’t ready to give up my nights and weekends again on top of working forty hours a week as it is. So I posted a brief description of what I was looking for and asked anyone who could help to contact me. A wonderful woman reached out to me and now I work for her doing personal assistant and booking keeping work for her real estate company. I draw in a few hundred dollars extra each month with this job, which allows me to cover much of my expenses. While I could likely make more money working at a restaurant or bar, it’s important to me to enjoy the rest of my time in Colorado with my friends, and I simply wasn’t willing to give that up quite yet. NextDoor is a really good option to pick up odd jobs, I’ve seen everything from yard work to pet sitting to financial help – and it’s likely going to be fairly close by your residence, which is a huge benefit. Don’t be afraid to market yourself a bit, you never know what you can find.

Another resource I’ve heard can be helpful is a site called Task Rabbit. I have not used it but I did look into it quite a bit before I found my part time job, and it seems like it could be fairly lucrative. The website connects people who need some sort of work done for them (usually administrative or errand type requests) with people who have an hourly rate and are available to do various tasks. There are loads of different options and it can be as flexible as you need it to be since you choose the tasks you want to take. Task Rabbit is one of those things that is what you make of it, but it seems like it could be a great way to rake in some extra cash here and there. Though I don’t know much about it, working as a Lyft or Uber driver could be another way to add to your travel funds. I believe you have to have a good driving record and a car that is newer than a certain year (for Uber I believe it’s 2008 or 2009). The hours are very flexible and you can work as much or as little as you’d like, and on your own schedule. Also, a job like this could prevent some excessive weekend spending since you could be earning money driving around all the lushes instead of being one yourself. There are so many ways to supplement your base income, and it’s a great idea to put whatever you make from your miscellaneous jobs directly into your savings.

As I’ve briefly mentioned, we are planning to sell most of what we own. We will likely start the process in May, slowly start minimizing our possessions, and hopefully make a bit of money while we are at it. I am really excited for the purge, I think it will be very freeing. One of my favorite quotes is, “understand that things are thieves of time, because the more things you have, the more time you spend working, the more your life is chained to a rhythm to get those things.” I really want to live by that mentality, I don’t want to be owned by things, my free time is so much more important to me than our culture’s obsession with madly collecting material possessions.   After our globetrotting, Weber and I plan to live off the grid, we want a piece of land and a modest Earthship dwelling (if you don’t know about Earthships, they are incredible and worth learning about) so we can be as self-sustaining as possible. I want to work (at a traditional job) minimally and instead spend my time growing my own food, making the things I need, and doing things I love. So this cutting down of unnecessary possessions will be a good way to prepare for that. There is something so beautiful about having everything you need on your back and seeing the world on your feet. We plan to utilize Craiglist a lot to sell our major items, and hold a yard sale for clothing and smaller items. We are also selling one of our cars, which should add a good amount of revenue to our funds. Once the purge starts I will write more on tips for getting rid of all your clutter.

The best way to make extra money is to get creative and think outside the box. Extra cash influx doesn’t have to mean getting a second full time job if that’s not what you are looking for.  There are lots of different outlets just waiting to be searched out. For example, I hung signs for my friend who is an organic farmer to promote his community supported agriculture share, and he gave me $100 to do something I am already happy to support. Consider asking your friends who have their own businesses to help with the menial tasks that may take valuable time away from them. You truly never know until you put yourself out there. If you don’t need additional income but you want to still do something beneficial, consider hosting Couchsurfers, it’s an interesting and rewarding experience and a great way to build up your traveler’s karma. And who doesn’t want that! Remember every small contribution helps, and that $20 will get you a couple more days on the beaches of Vietnam!

 Happy Wanderlusting!

|| To Experience Life ||

In the days of ever increasing interconnectivity, are we losing touch with the human experience? The other day I read an article about how social media sparks higher narcissistic tendencies in people, and a quote that stuck out to me read, “people are unable to experience life for what it is.” As a culture, we’re disproportionally focused on the importance of the individual. Our desire to market ourselves to the outside world as special and unique has become a near constant quest. And while we are all unique and special in our talents, they are not demonstrated through the superficial; our individualism is special because it connects us as part of a whole, it allows us to use our talents to benefit our entire human community – not just ourselves. Yet we look around daily and see people essentially staging their lives, hoping to capture the perfect picture, aiming to create this illusion we’ve decided is necessary in hopes of curating our ideal self image. Dreaming to better ourselves is a wonderful thing, but we are doing it in the wrong way – we are forgetting to live, connect, experience the present and appreciate its genuine beauty.

When our online lives showcase our superficial attributes and our less-than-realistic realities we lose touch with our actual realities, we forget how to live in the moment because we are so focused on uploading the next highly altered photo. Instead of reveling in the irreplaceable beauty of the present moment we are seeing it through the eyes of our camera lenses; instead of solidifying in our memories what the present looks like, smells like, tastes like, sounds like, feels like we are focusing on how our peers will view this moment. The desire to be accepted is entirely human, and healthy to some extent, but I believe our culture has gone beyond this to a place where we provoke competition, comparison, judgment and jealousy. Instead of finding our genuine happiness by doing the things we love, we are causing others to feel badly about themselves and their realities by producing false and inauthentic images, in the hopes to sell the idea that we are the best.

Living a life you are proud of is integral to a happy existence, but is that really what we are doing when we spend so much time creating an idealized image of ourselves for others to judge? Are we really doing what brings us joy and working towards self-love when we’re constantly focusing away from our present moment? When we look around to see so many people starring down at their phones, furthering themselves from human connection and their experience of life, it feels like we’ve created a fake culture, a culture of make believe. We are losing touch with ourselves and with one another. The more our focus is on ourselves, on the ironically named social media platforms, on our superficial image, the less we know how to truly live.

Let’s remember to do the things we love because we love them, not because we hope others will too. Let’s remember to appreciate the ever dwindling human contact which surrounds us. Let’s force ourselves to remain intertwined in the present moment, even if that means feeling uncomfortable feelings. Push back the urge to grapple for our phones the second we are bored or feeling alone, take a deep breath, let the life-giving air flow through our bodies, listen to the sound of silence, find peace in the chaos, and remember how incredible it is to be alive.

|| DIY Travel Guide ||

Many of the travel blogs I’ve researched agree that the old-school travel guide books have been made redundant due to the internet. While this is sad in its own right, because I love books I believe preserving them is greatly important, the internet allows us access to such vast information that you can truly plan out the exact trip of your dreams.

Travel bloggers who dissuade packing traditional guide books mention that the guides are becoming less and less helpful in their efforts to remain relevant to world travelers. What I mean by this is that many of the books end up claiming all destinations are wonderful and are worth traveling to, rather than getting down to the nitty-gritty and explaining which ones are genuinely worth spending precious time and funds on. Often times when the activities you chose and sights you see are time sensitive, you have to be fairly ruthless on which ones you decide to embark upon.

Regardless of this, I think having some sort of travel guide with you is helpful. Since I can’t memorize all that I’ve researched I decided to make my own personalized guide book. Each time I research and stumble upon helpful information, backpacking routes I want to check out more, and tips on particular sights, I copy them into a word document and save them in a folder on my desktop. As I re-read through the pieces, I pluck the most useful information and transfer it into a separate single word document. Once I complete my makeshift travel guide, I am going to print it out in a small notebook style and bind it. You can print and bind at Kinkos for a reasonable price. This way I can reduce excess weight in my pack by not lugging around a travel guide with unnecessary information, and I can reduce waste by only printing the information I need.

Making your own travel guide has many perks, including possibly saving yourself some money. If the prices at Kinkos are too expensive then you can simply print your information yourself and bind it with staples and a makeshift cover – remember it doesn’t have to be fancy, just has to have the information you need in it. You can even upload the information you collected on your travel blog for others to use, but be sure to give credit to original writer. The internet is immensely helpful in planning your nomadic adventures so take all the advantage you can of the beautiful information out there!

||May your mind be vast and your journey be wild ||

|| A Story of a Lost Dog ||

Today marks the one year anniversary of the day my dog, Blitz, seemingly vanished while on a hike in the foothills of Colorado. I’d like to share her truly incredibly story, for it was a prime example of the imitable strength of the Law of Attraction. Though I still have much work to do in aligning my life with this law, my experience with Blitz’s wilderness trek – as I like to think of it now – showed me how powerful its success feels.

---

On a mild Sunday afternoon in February, a few friends and I decided to hike in the foothills with our dogs. We arrived at an open space park with wooded trails surrounding it, and were joined by many fellow outdoor lovers. At that point, I had my black lab rescue for a couple years and she had always done well off-leash, so I soon let her free once we reached the open meadow. I looked on and smiled as Blitz romped around in the melting snow, her shiny black coat glimmering in the sun. Her love of freedom was so beautiful, I never had the heart to keep that from her. Things took a turn for the worse when, less than five minutes later, I spotted a group of deer. I immediately went to grab Blitz before she chased them, but she was too quick – our two dogs took off after the deer. Luckily our friend’s dog came back immediately, but Blitz continued to chase the group. My friends reassured me she would come back soon, but I had an uneasy feeling about it and immediately began searching.

Minutes ticked by, hours passed, then dusk settled – and still there was no sign of Blitz. Now we had the whole park calling for her, and my panic officially set in. The evening grew darker, and we discussed what to do next. After crying in disbelief in the parking lot, we rushed to the local library to print flyers. We put up as many as we could in the park and its surrounding neighborhoods. I was unfamiliar with the area, so I felt completely overwhelmed at the situation. I couldn’t even begin to anticipate where she could’ve ran off to. Finally, we had to leave; it was an incredibly difficult decision to make, but we really had no choice. I was in complete shock. The drive back to Denver was utter torture, nightmarish thoughts and scenes reeling in my mind. Was she hurt? Was she looking for us? Would I ever see her again? What do I even do now?

I desperately fought the feeling of helplessness and devoted every ounce of my energy into spreading the word of Blitz’s disappearance. The rescue that I adopted her from sent out emails to their enormous address book and shared it on their Facebook. I posted on every relevant website I could think of. I gave descriptions to every nearby shelter, animal control, and veterinarian. I purchased a service that sent out calls to thousands of neighbors detailing what Blitz looked like and instructing them to call me with any information. Through this service, I received a call from a woman who thought she saw Blitz on her porch the night before. Immediately I drove to her area and hung clothing with my sent, left out water, and put signs in every mailbox I saw. I gathered a group of my friends for a search party, and we were sure that every person in the small town knew about the situation. Soon the word spread like wildfire, and I had people looking for Blitz in every direction. My grief was undeniable, but I could not shake the feeling that Blitz would come back. She is such a fighter, such a survivor – I knew she had it in her.

Days passed, and I simply could not concentrate on anything else. Unhelpful call after call to shelters and vets zapped my hope little by little. I even convinced the police station in the area to send out an email to their town residents. How could she not be seen, I thought to myself? I was working so hard to bring her back. My anxiety spiked drastically each time my phone rang and an unknown number appeared on the screen. This is it, I would think, but my heart would drop as the caller began “I don’t have your dog, but….”. I scoured the pet section on Craiglist in case someone found her and was trying to sell her. I received some possible leads, but none of them turned out to be Blitz. Each day after work I would drive the 45 minutes to the park where she vanished, call for her, search for her, and hang hundreds of signs… but still I had nothing. Time passed painfully. My friends started talking about other things, attempting to take my mind off it, but I simply couldn’t – it was all consuming.

About a week after Blitz took off, I answered a call from a woman who lived in the park’s area. To my surprise, and I admit, slight frustration, she was sobbing on the phone. She kept repeating that she had to find Blitz. She told me of the mountain lions and other wildlife in the area, and how she kept picturing her dog out there alone in the cold. She told me she would search for Blitz every day. I appreciated her dedication to finding my dog, but hearing about the potential dangers – which I already knew – tied even more knots in my stomach. I shook it off as best I could, and kept up my search.

The initial frenzy of calls and people searching died down. I could feel others giving up. People kept encouraging me to find peace with the possibility that she likely would not return. Anything could have happened, they said, tell yourself that some nice family living in the mountains found her and are taking great care of her. Maybe they were right, I thought to myself, maybe I should find a way to move on. I still couldn’t stomach the thought that I would never see my little dog again, I couldn’t shake the guilty feeling that I let her down. A few snow storms passed through the area and I pictured her cold, hungry and alone. I wondered how she would keep herself warm and fed. My heart was shattered.

I knew most people would be giving up by now, but I could not silence the voice in my head – repeating she’s out there, she is so strong, someone will find her. I tried to focus on the silver lining. I had never felt so much love pouring into my life from complete strangers, people who sympathized with my pain, people who wanted nothing more than to see Blitz come home. I received so many comforting calls; shed tears and shared heartache with people I would never meet. I had a glimpse of true human nature – our desire to care for one another – and it was beautiful.  One day, a few weeks in, I spoke with a woman who said she could communicate with animals. She never claimed to be a professional and never asked for money, but she shared her insight with me. Immediately she confirmed my own belief, that Blitz was still alive. She saw her headed deeper into the mountains, which contradicted where our earlier leads had us searching. She told me that animals communicate through visuals, not words. Instead of talking to her she instructed me to visualize her safe, staying off roads, and approaching people for help. So every day that is what I did. I pictured how happy I would be when I had her back, safe in my arms.

My best friend Kristie, who lived with me at the time and who I considered Blitz’s other mother, was experiencing all the same anguish. While at work, pretending things were normal, we texted one another constantly, fumbling with the little information we had, utterly confused on how to proceed. We asked each other, as painful as it was, do we let go? One Saturday night, on the eve of a month into the exhausting journey, we sat in the dark, our despair palpable. I decided I had to go out, I couldn’t sit in the dark room and drown in my thoughts any longer. So I got drunk and I confided in the bartender… who came around to hug me while I sobbed into her shirt. Strangely, it was therapeutic. I am always amazed at the strength of the divine feminine, that instinct of protection, even for people you don’t know. Women can truly experience another’s emotions and pain as if they are her own, and that, I think, is a characteristic worth exalting.  I asked my boyfriend on our way home that night, “will I ever be okay?” – I truly did not know.

After that night, I decided I would continue on with my life. I would still do everything in my power to bring Blitz home, if she was out there, but I made a decision to allow myself to be happy again. I had done everything I could possibly do, and now I had no choice but to find acceptance. I received a few more false leads, each time equally as disappointing. I was on a literal rollercoaster of emotion, and it drained everything I had. I envisioned Blitz with a family deep in the mountains, happily exploring the wilderness, being loved and cared for by yet another owner – she had been through many. Kristie and I joked that maybe she was simply never meant to be owned… she was the epitome of a free spirit. I told myself I had to let her go.

A couple weeks later, on April 1^st, 2014 – April Fool’s Day ironically – I looked down at my ringing phone to yet another unknown number. I answered, my heart still skipped a beat, to a familiar sobbing voice. It was Shelly, the same woman who had called me weeks ago vowing to find my dog. She fought through her sobs to ask me how I was. Again, mild frustration rose in me, simply because every phone call that led nowhere took so much out of me emotionally. I just wished to be left alone at that point. But after a bit of a roundabout conversation, she began hesitantly between sobs, “I don’t even want to do this to you, I know how much you’ve been through, but… I think I found your dog.” Tears immediately welled in my eyes as I pushed for more information. She continued, “I was walking around my neighborhood this morning and I saw a small found sign, and I swear it’s Blitz. I have been looking at her picture for a month and I just know it’s her. Does she have a little white on her back toes?” My heart racing, I confirmed, “Yes, almost like it was painted on.” Shelly sobbed out “it’s her!” I completely broke down, I knew this was it, I could feel it. Shelly gave me the number on the poster, and I immediately called and left a voicemail for the family. I waited anxiously. Soon they returned my call and asked me what color collar my dog had on, I responded, “well I’m sure hers would have fallen off by now, but it was aqua blue.” My throat tightened as I waited for the answer I needed, “I think we’ve got her.”

My mind was racing, I ran to my boss’s office in tears to tell her the news, and she gave me permission to go. I called Kristie, who was rightfully skeptical, and assured her I really felt this was Blitz. We raced home, got in the car, and began the drive we drove far too many times. We wound through unfamiliar neighborhoods, about ten miles or so from where we initially lost Blitz – correctly predicted by my previous psychic caller. We finally located the house, parked the car, attempted to remain as calm as possible, and approached the door. We rang the doorbell, only to hear Blitz’s unforgettable little bark. The door opened, we saw her face and crumpled to the floor in an emotional heap. Blitz sprinted around the house – her joy apparent – and soon collapsed, smiling and panting, on the floor beside us. A reunion like no other, a real life Homeward Bound.

The family who found Blitz was new to Colorado and really didn’t know how to locate the owners of a lost dog. They saw Blitz roaming around their yard several days prior, and because they left food outside for the foxes she began hanging around their house. At first she was skeptical of people, since dogs will generally go feral pretty quickly when lost, so she stayed a safe distance. Their young daughter attempted to gain Blitz’s trust by feedings her, and soon they got her inside. They bathed her, fed her, and gave her love. After a couple days they decided to put up the signs that Shelly saw. I asked them, out of curiosity, if they’d seen the flyers all over the town, posts on Craigslist and Facebook, classified in the newspaper, or thought to take her to the vet to see if she was microchipped – but they really had not thought about any of those outlets. Because of this, if it had not been for Shelly, I would never have found my dog. The family definitely would’ve kept Blitz with their other black lab; and she would’ve lived a happy, healthy life without me. Thankfully for one dedicated person, she was returned to her family.

Kristie and I embraced in another tearful hug, this time filled with joy. After profusely thanking the family and offering a reward, which they vehemently turned down, we took Blitz home. She fell asleep immediately, exhausted from her adventures in the wilderness, and her search for us, too. We stopped to see Shelly, the woman responsible for the whole reunion, and joyfully celebrated together. She was genuinely as happy as we were, and I felt overwhelming gratitude for her. Through the entire devastating experience, one thing remained true – there are genuinely good and honest people everywhere in the world. No matter what evil the media spreads on a daily basis, I believe our cores are filled with love and compassion for all sentient beings.

Kristie, Blitz, and I arrived home after making all the necessary phone calls informing our friends, family, and multitudes of volunteers of the good news. Disbelief was the common reaction; most didn’t think, after all this time, that we would have a happy ending. People thanked me for being such a caring dog owner, and for refusing to give up hope. So many people wanted to hear our story that the local newspaper wrote a small piece on Blitz and I. Finally I could take a deep breath, it literally felt like I hadn’t in weeks. Unbelievably, Blitz had been gone for 44 days in the densely forested wilderness of the Rocky Mountains.

Thinking back on it, I still cannot believe it happened, the memories feel surreal. I firmly believe Blitz’s return is attributed to the Law of Attraction. Thoughts become things. My higher self was urging me not to give up, to keep pushing until Blitz and I were reunited. I envisioned over and over how great it would feel when I saw her again, and I manifested it into reality. I wanted nothing more than to find her, and the Universe obliged. Even with all the doubts, the false leads, the countless let downs, I could not shake the underlying hope I had. I talked to Blitz every day, told her how much I loved her, that I needed her back, and sent her visions of seeking help from people. I found inspiration from people like Shelly, and the many wonderful souls who helped me on this journey. Their dedication to a stranger, to a situation that seemed hopeless to so many, to one that they wouldn’t directly benefit from – that to me, is the epitome of beauty. I manifested my future with Blitz, and I refused any other outcome then us growing old together. I am her person and she is my amazing warrior dog.

|| Tips for the Conscious Traveler ||

“I don’t want to protect the environment. I want to create a world where the environment doesn’t need protecting.”

As I mentioned briefly in my post The Onset, a theme of my travels is my continuing journey to eventual self-sustainability. Extensive travel can be very taxing on the environment, and given our Earth’s current worsening condition, that should be a concern for all travelers. In reality, aggressive international travel should be cut down significantly, if not entirely, but our global paradigm does not allow for it at this time. I believe in the near future we will be forced to reconsider the way we traverse lands and how it affects our ecosystem, and this may result in the extinction of international travel as we know it. My hope is that our amazingly innovative human family will find ways to connect the world in a much more sustainable fashion, because to lose our accessibility to the incredible corners of the world would be devastating. So, although I feel conflicted for it at times, I’ve decided to take full advantage of the age of globalization while I can and embark on my dream to be a world nomad while doing my part to raise awareness on these issues. To offset some of my guilt, and in hopes to encourage others to consider a travel lifestyle change, I would like to share some tips on how to be a more environmentally conscious traveler.

Drifting from our norm is difficult at times because in our society we are constantly on the go and our natural inclination is to accomplish tasks as quickly and efficiently as possible. People often don’t associate “crunchy” alternatives as a viable solution to their busy lifestyles. However, this is a misconception. Many healthy and environmentally conscious options can cut down considerably on travel hassle, among other benefits. Below I’d like to share some ways to lower your carbon footprint on the road, and also make your life as a nomad a bit simpler:

---

No Poo: One of the most helpful alternative habits you can adopt is the “no-poo” method. Don’t let the name turn you off! The name stands for “no shampoo”, and it is the practice of weaning oneself off traditional shampoo and conditioner. There is great information online debunking the myths of needing shampoo to keep your hair and scalp clean and healthy. Most of us are used to showering and shampooing daily or close to it; convincing ourselves it’s the only way when we see oily buildup after mere hours. The truth is that the buildup is actually caused by over-cleaning our scalps and hair. Every time we clean with traditional shampoo we strip our scalp entirely of its natural oils. So to make up for it our scalp works overtime to replace those necessary oils, therefore causing our hair to appear oily very quickly. The no-poo method transitions people away from commercial shampoos in order to allow their scalp to regulate itself, which means some can swear off shampoo completely.

This method sounds intense and unlikely to some, but as a former no-pooer I can attest to its truth. I went about two years without using shampoo at all. There are many different no-poo methods and each person is different as far as which works best, but almost everyone can make no-poo work for them. Be wary, there is a transition period that can last up to a couple months when your scalp is recalibrating from over producing its oils, so your hair will look less than stellar during this time. Once you push through this, though, the results are amazing. You will see your hair regulating its own oil production and you will require less washing. I was able to transition to rinsing only with water every 4-5 days, and my hair stayed amazingly fresh- and some people can go even longer.

There is far too much information to share here, but I encourage those interested in freeing themselves from the unnecessary use of shampoo, and simultaneously saving the money you would normally spend on products, to seriously consider making the transition. Imagine how great it will be to never carry shampoo or conditioner on your travels, to never worry about purchasing those toiletries on the road, and to cut down your showers by half or more. Not only will no-poo save you money but by eliminating use of traditional shampoos you will reduce your carbon footprint in multiple ways. You will rid of the wasteful plastic packaging, you will cut out the harmful chemicals running into the water supply, you will reduce your support of unsustainable corporations, and you will conserve water on shorter and less frequent showers.

---

Shampoo Bars: If no-poo isn’t up your alley there is another excellent solution to ridding of your bulky shower toiletries while on the road. As I mentioned, I am an ex no-pooer. I decided to abandon the method because it wasn’t working well for me after some time due to my extensive hair coloring in the past– you can find further information on why this happens in the links I provide. Instead of transitioning to traditional products I currently use shampoo bars from Chagrin Valley Soap and Salve. This is one of my favorite companies for all personal care items. They have an incredible story, and their products are void of all chemicals, synthetics, parabens, sulfates etc. Visit their website for wonderful testimonies on their amazing products.

Like no-poo, these shampoo bars still allow you to wean off frequent hair washing and they genuinely work to repair your damaged hair and recalibrate your scalp’s oil production. Since they are free off any nasties, they’re still health and environmentally conscious. I have a scalp condition that causes extreme itching, especially in warm and humid weather, and it can be extremely frustrating to the point where I cannot sleep. After sampling Chagrin Valley’s shampoo bars, the itching reduced hugely and I am now a customer for life. I still experience flair ups but they occur  less and are significantly less severe. I still notice a major difference in my scalp condition when I’m forced to use traditional shampoos in a pinch.

The best aspects of shampoo bars are that they’re void of wasteful plastic packaging and harmful chemicals, and they cause no mess when on the road. I can’t tell you how many times I opened my toiletry bag during my European backpacking trip and my shampoo and conditioner had burst open and spilled everywhere. Spills won’t happen with bars, and they can also be easily taken as a carry on since they are not in liquid form. I also love supporting an honest and local business that produces quality products.

Shampoo bars last much longer than traditional products as well, so one or two large bars can last you months and possibly over a year depending on the amount of hair you have and how much you wash it. Chagrin Valley’s shampoo bars can double as body and face soap as well, since their ingredients are safe for all body parts. A helpful tip is to shave or cut the large bars into single use pieces, and keep them in a soap bag. When you are ready to shower you can pluck a piece out quickly, use it, and not worry about getting the entire bar wet – which requires time to dry before packing and causes quicker degeneration of the soap. Whether you go entirely no-poo or choose a shampoo bar, you can feel good that you’re choosing sustainable alternatives as well as saving yourself a lot of time, hassle, and money. Also consider Chagrin Valley’s complexion bars that are an excellent alternative to bottled face wash.

---

Water Purifiers: Many foreign countries don’t have the luxury of clean, drinkable tab water. Often travelers from Western countries are encouraged not to drink the tap water and instead buy filtered bottled water to avoid potential illness. I always flinch with reluctance if I have to purchase bottled water, and I generally avoid it whenever I can. Not only is the packaging wasteful and unnecessary, but often the companies who produce bottled water promote destruction of the environment and privatization of every water source in the world – that last piece was an actual quote by the CEO of Nestle. Of course, sometimes it becomes a choice between contracting an illness or supporting these companies by purchasing their water. Instead of bottled water, consider packing a portable water filtration system. A filtration system allows you to hydrate with normally non-potable water. Be sure to choose a high quality system that you will feel comfortable filling your reusable water bottle with. Also consider bringing Iodine or purification tablets which can kill any additional bacteria, viruses, and giardia, if your water source is especially contaminated. Some of those tablets include taste neutralization as well. Instead of spending your funds on endless bottled water, contributing to unnecessary waste, and supporting damaging corporations – you can reuse your non-disposable water bottle free of charge (aside from the initial investments).

---

DIY Toothpaste: Traditional toothpaste is another product to consider kicking to the curb. Studies show that fluoride can be very damaging to your brain and also causes calcification of the pineal gland – which is said to be our connection to higher dimensions. I avoid fluoride whenever I can, and a major source of it is found in traditional toothpaste. I decided to make my own toothpaste instead, and found a simple and easy recipe with only a few ingredients. My favorite recipe is coconut oil, baking soda, a pinch of sea salt, and peppermint abstract. I keep this mixture in a reusable tin and simply whip up another batch when I run out. I cut down my fluoride consumption by using this method and kick the excess packaging. Additionally, some research shows that coconut oil is incredibly beneficial to oral health. These recipes can be easily recreated most places you travel since the ingredients are straight forward and accessible.

---

DIY Deodorant: Similarly to toothpaste, there are many recipes out there for alternatives to traditional store-bought deodorant. DIY deodorants can be kept in tins or other reusable packaging so as to reduce associated waste. Crunchy recipes are also void of potentially harmful, and simply unnecessary, chemicals so you can feel good about putting them on your skin.

---

[For Ladies] Diva Cup or Menstrual Cup: I mentioned this female necessity in my Gearing Up post, but I’d like to further explain its benefits. The Diva Cup, and its similar counterparts, is probably the single most helpful item to have for extensive travel. Many women are initially turned off by this option, but I promise once you get over the initial out-of-your-comfort-zone experience you will be endlessly grateful. There are countless testimonials on menstrual cups, and I suggest perusing online reviews for answers to your questions and concerns. Not only are these cups very efficient, effective, and comfortable, but they are also a sustainable alternative to traditional tampons and pads. When you chose menstrual cups you eliminate all of your previous waste relating to your monthly cycle. Not to mention you say goodbye to the inevitable panic you experience when you get your period before you’re prepared with the necessary products. Since the cup is reusable you don’t have to worry about being under-prepared, since you will always have the one and only product you need right in your pack. You only have to change the cup every 12 hours, sometimes more, since there is no risk of TSS. So you can enjoy your entire day without running to the bathroom, and you can sleep worry free through the evenings. The cup pays for itself pretty quickly and last for years, so you also eventually pay nothing for feminine products. I cannot say enough about menstrual cups and urge every woman, especially those who travel extensively and outdoors, to strongly consider these life changing products.

---

Organic Makeup: For those ladies, or men, who like their makeup, consider bringing health conscious products on your travels. There are many vendors on Etsy who create organic, chemical free cosmetics that are not tested on animals. These are much better for your skin and usually cost less and last longer – since they are void of the planned obsolescence many traditional products contain. Planned obsolescence is when a product is purposefully made to fail, be less effective, or run out quickly in order to maintain a company’s profit – this can be seen in cosmetics that require using more for the desired effect. Crunchy alternatives may not achieve the same “fake,” for lack of a better word, look that some traditional products do, but they often provide a beautiful natural look instead. Natural makeup simply feels better on and is better for your skin. Consider all-in-one type products that can be used as lip color, eye color, and cheek color so you can minimize what you pack.

---

Utilizing these tips can not only simplify your travel routine, cut down on wasted packing room by unnecessary products, but will also reduce your carbon footprint while on the road. For me it’s important to maintain a sustainable and healthy lifestyle as much as I can on my travels. You can also feel good about reducing your dependency on corporations that choose profit over our environment. We vote with our dollar, so it is so important to know where your dollars, and votes, are going when consuming. Every time we give our money to corporations who conduct themselves in reckless ways that we disagree with, we are enabling them to continue these actions and profit off destroying our Earth. Instead, we should learn to question our current lifestyles, and pursue ways to live more harmoniously with our environment and eliminate unnecessary and often harmful habits that we’ve been taught to follow.