stay eco, my friends

I write this blog, not for selfish intentions, but to share my knowledge, research and personal green journey in the hopes that it will inspire others to make changes in their own life. I started Eco Cajun as a very simple blog in March 2009, as a hobby that would help me escape the stress of my job. 

From my very first post, oh so long ago:

I made an active decision for 2008 to focus on being environmentally friendly. I'm very happy with the things I accomplished that year, even if just on a personal level, and I've continued that goal into 2009.

The environment is my passion. This space is all about my thoughts, my practices and things I learn in an effort to restore this planet to its natural beauty. 

At times over the years, even lately, I've debated whether I wanted to continue writing. Not because of a lack of passion, but sometimes from wondering if I was making a difference or even being read. I've doubted my own skills or interesting-ness on many occasions. I did stop writing for two years, but back in 2012 I felt drawn to returning to my little space and working at it even harder. So I started back, redesigned the entire page, bought a domain and threw myself anew into my side project. I pushed myself to continue even when my full-time job demanded most of my time, brain and energy; even when I doubted my blogging efforts.

And now I get it. I'm seeing the fruits of not giving up. One of my personal mottoes is "everything happens for a reason". Last October, my city's mayor honored me with a Project Front Yard award. I was selected to join the board of Keep Lafayette Beautiful. When I interviewed for my current job as a marketing writer, I talked about my blog as a personal writing project. So so many good things have happened in the past six months, and Eco Cajun has been a part of many of them. The hard work is paying off and pushing me to keep going. I've had tons of ideas pouring out of my head into my notebook.

A lot of my inspiration has been fueled by being featured as one of Acadiana LifeStyle's Most Interesting People in Acadiana in the January 2015 issue. WHAAAT!? Little old me!?

What I love about being included in Acadiana LifeStyle's list is being among the company of seven other extremely passionate people. Each of them are passionate in their area, whether it's music, volunteering, community activism, religion, art, education or community service. As one of the other recipients says, “We all have talents; you just have to want to do it.”

And everyone has the common goal of making Acadiana a better place. If any of us can inspire others in the community to take action (however someone might choose to), then we've accomplished something. Acadiana is being recognized for tons of amazing things, from Lafayette being a top college town, to having the best free music festival, to having the best food (preach), and it's up to all of us to keep the community as good as it can be.

I cannot say thank you enough to all of you who read this or follow and interact with me on social media. I do it for y'all, honestly! I've made so many awesome friends through blogging. And I'm honored by everyone who contacts me with questions or their own personal stories.

One of my grade school friends and current neighbors called recently asking if she could put some of her recycling overflow in our bin. I'm like the savior to homeless recycling (especially when I bring home my department's bag of recycling, like I'm Santa Claus or something).

Another friend called to ask me about plastic bag bans in Louisiana, and how she could start the process to try to implement one. I've been asked about recycling at local apartment complexes, how to recycle cooking oil and where to bring composted material. I love this kind of feedback...and expect to see posts on all of these topics!

My ultimate goal is to inspire this kind of environmentalism and change in my community (and in YOUR community, wherever you are!) I want you to take away something from my posts that causes you to take an action, whether you conserve more energy, use less plastic, recycle more, start recycling, ride a bicycle...or whatever!

If I can stress it again, if you are doing something you are passionate about, but feeling discouraged, do not give up. Keep going! It can feel slow sometimes, but you will find your validation.