One Small Habit: BYOJ (Bring Your Own Jar)
New Minimalism doesn't end after you walk out your front door, that's simply the starting point.
Decluttering your home and donating items is the first step in cultivating a mindful, gentle way of being on this earth. Many of the habits we practice at home, we also do our best to bring with us into the rest of our lives. Today's small habit is a perfect example of this.
One small habit that Kyle and I both deeply value is BYOJ: bring your own jar.
In this habit, one essentially never leaves home without some kind of container with them. Kyle and I both alternate between simply using our water bottles (which we also always have on us) or a mason jar. This jar serves as a personal, always-available reusable receptacle for any food or drink item you may purchase when out and about.
So far, we've used our jars for: smoothies, acai bowls, coffee (like Phillz Mint Mojito above!), tea, water, avocados, oatmeal, salad bar items, and freshly-foraged berries, just to name a few.
It's unimportant exactly what brand or style you use -- to each their own preference. What does matter is that the jar is durable (it will be bouncing around in your backpack/bag/bike panniers after all), and that it has a good sealing lid (my purse still smells like cardamom on warm days from a slightly leaky jar of chai latte this past spring).
New habits undoubtedly require a little effort in their originating stages. But their elegance and beauty comes from the effortlessness of habitualized behaviors -- when it stops being work and starts being second nature.
It takes a little bit of moxie to offer up your jar at restaurants, coffee shops, on planes or at grocery stores. Do it anyways. Not only is it a good deed done for our earth (avoiding the constant stream of disposables), it's also more pleasant to eat and drink out of a lovely glass or aluminum container and far easier to travel with than a paper or plastic version.
Each person, each time they use a jar in public, they strengthen the ecological awareness of their community. When you BYOJ, you not only ensure that far fewer products end up in our landfills (or recycling or compost, which still require resources to process) but you also can't help but start up a conversation or set a small example for your fellow consumers. You are one more person moving the spectrum, ever-so-slightly, towards environmental compassion and responsibility. And that small act means a lot.
