Lifestyle

We are picky about our clothes. At least some of us are. Be it formal or casual, people like to look their best apart from a few who are too lazy to dress up.

We peruse through the clothing racks, checking the size, the silhouette, the colour, and whether it suits the occasion it is required for but, how often do we think about the technology behind its production or the effort of the people involved? Almost never.

During the production of your clothes, the yarn undergoes a series of processes like shedding, picking and battening on a power loom. Operated by mechanical or electrical power, the power loom is what enables the fashion industry to properly function in a fast-paced environment to satisfy the ever-changing desires of the consumers.

Today, as fast fashion resides well in the public’s list of favourites on account of its accessibility and affordability favoured by millions of middle-income families around the world, a minor industry which was once the backbone of the fashion world has now been reduced to its skin and bones: *The handloom industry*.

The business that employed manual labour for fabric production was one of the most successful in the world until of course, the industrial revolution changed its course in the 19th century. To sum up the past, the power loom thrived because of its ability for rapid mass production and the handloom employees subsequently lost their livelihoods. The weavers and spinners were forced to take a step back and succumb to the ill effects of poverty in the aftermath of the machines’ success.

A part of the handloom industry, however, refused to back down. Even with its lost glory, the industry has continued to function, though the number of units has reduced drastically. Today, this activity exists only in a few nations, in developing ones such as India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka where it is a major means of income for rural livelihood. Nevertheless, the industry has neared its end as a consequence of inadequate funds and demand.

I wanted to explore the issue deeper, so I dug out some books, read the literature, and finally set out on a two-week journey to South India to study the problems in depth.

I visited two handloom villages in the state of Kerala where I received a warm welcome from over twenty weavers, most of them being female and over the age of fifty with no affiliation to modern technology. It was surprising to learn that some of them have not even seen a computer in their lifetime.

![A middle-aged woman operating the handloom in a factory in Kerala, India|1300x800](https://res.cloudinary.com/fledger/image/upload/v1683760105/post/handweaving_woman_wzmruq.jpg "A skilled handloom weaver from Kerala, weaving beautiful fabrics for hours on end. The physical toll of working in the same position from 9-to-5 is unimaginable. From [thenewsminute.com](https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/once-admired-kerala-s-dying-handloom-tradition-badly-need-revival-76073).")

As I began to observe the art up close, the physical stress endured by the weavers from having to work in the same position from 9-to-5 became more visible. With their hands on the two handles and the legs on the paddle, the consistent to-and-fro movement of the loom has led them to have various body problems. It was saddening to hear that this was their primary takeaway from the job. If backache, arm and leg pain weren't enough, it had to be piled up with internal body issues such as asthma caused by the dust of the loom. I could see some of the weavers, particularly the elders struggling to keep up their continuous pace of movement.

This was just the tip of the iceberg. What followed was a long conversation that cemented the stereotypical image of those in power accountable for the welfare of these minority groups.

:::quote
“*People with families cannot survive on this. We are earning a livelihood and at the same time must ask others for money. I am receiving the wage weekly but for other expenses such as school uniform and travel, I must depend on other family members*”
:::

A weaver said, her words reflected the same angst and helplessness on her face.

Even with such hard labour, they are paid about 900 rupees per week. Roughly, that’s 9 pounds. Imagine working to your bones all week only to be faced with the disappointing economic reality. In the UK alone, [people spend on average about 20 pounds per week on clothing](https://www.statista.com/statistics/285586/clothing-and-footwear-weekly-uk-household-expenditure-by-age/). Thanks to fast fashion, global consumer spending on clothing [has now exceeded two trillion dollars and is predicted to rise even further](https://www.statista.com/forecasts/1161735/fashion-consumer-spending-forecast-in-the-world). It’s all well and good to have cheap clothes, but there are traditions and livelihoods that are being lost in real time because of the fast-fashion industry.

What’s even more depressing is that there is no consistency in the wages they receive. The government pays as and when they prefer. [According to the Ministry of Textiles](https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/doc/eb/sbe98.pdf), 2000 million rupees have been allotted for handloom development and yet *‘the poor get poorer’*. Almost 100,000 rupees is owed by the government to each weaver and they have already given up any hope of ever receiving it.

By mere logic, it can be deduced that the materialistic desires of the so-called guardians who have taken an oath to protect the needy serve as the reason behind their state of peril. Corruption in these organisations is an already established fact that I was also able to hear directly from one of the secretaries of the handloom cooperative societies.

This combined with the piling financial debts is what drives the weavers to the worst scenario. Many weavers take their own lives instead of suffering the financial shackles imposed on them by the state. [Spending 30,000 million rupees on the world’s tallest statue]( https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/interesting-facts-about-the-statue-of-unity/cost-to-build-the-statue/slideshow/95849724.cms ) and [not a penny to save those 1500 lives over three years](https://www.sabrangindia.in/article/shock-shame-50-weavers-take-their-lives-modis-constituency-varanasi) cannot exactly be termed economic growth.

My experience in the village hit me deep with the realisation that regardless of how progressive the nation is, there will always be a part of the society bound to suffer, weighed down by the outcome of corporate greed and incompetent decisions by the political and bureaucratic authorities.

It doesn’t end here. Next to the government, it is the private shops and companies benefitting at the expense of the handloom industry’s reputation by selling counterfeit products to those who cannot differentiate between the both. If sweatshops, pollution and animal cruelty weren’t performing a good enough job of defamation, these downtrodden tactics would definitely have the fashion industry wearing the cone of shame.

I consider myself lucky enough to witness the result of the handlooming community’s hard labour – an exquisite piece of fabric that lies far ahead in terms of quality and craftsmanship that it is almost impossible to be beaten by any fast-fashion item at any given time. It is not that the Handloom cannot succeed, rather a lack of funds, a lack of strong marketing tactics, and a lack of technology keep pushing the industry to its doomsday.

![A handmade white and yellow Indian silk sari, folded|1500x1002](https://res.cloudinary.com/fledger/image/upload/v1683760105/post/handweaving_sari_1_z8wuhu.jpg)

![A handmade white and yellow Indian silk sari, worn by a woman|1500x1002](https://res.cloudinary.com/fledger/image/upload/v1683760105/post/handweaving_sari_2_solurj.jpg "The traditional silk sari is a quintessential garment of India; a testament to the dedication and skill of handloom weavers who pour their hearts and soul into crafting these beautiful textiles.")

It is not going to be easy but this industry can be revived with the collective effort of the government and the public. As it is handmade, the products are expensive but they can be made more affordable if the government cuts down the cost of raw materials and guarantees a minimum wage for the weavers to attract more people to work, especially those living below the poverty line.

It may seem impractical to revert to old ways of manufacturing, and it is indeed, [but remember how staying indoors during the pandemic reduced greenhouse gasses drastically](https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2022/06/30/greenhouse-emissions-rise-to-record-erasing-drop-during-pandemic#:~:text=Emissions%20of%20carbon%20dioxide%20and,mobility%20and%20hampered%20economic%20activity.)? The Handloom sector can do the same to the fashion industry if it is allowed to carry out at least one-fifth of the global fabric production and this can relieve the fashion industry from being the second largest polluting industry in the world.

Handloom brands have such a low presence on digital media that it is very easy to miss them. Appealing to the demographics of millennials and Gen Z is the key if the sector wants to get back on its two feet, for which it is highly essential to embrace social media. Inviting their participation and promoting them with innovative content can highly improve the fanbase of these products.

All of these suggestions would be futile if the governments intend to keep ignoring the situation. Justice delayed is justice denied, which seems to be apt for this situation. The weavers can leave this profession and find a job elsewhere, but they refuse to do so, as handloom is not just a livelihood. It is a means to reflect their own traditions and culture, a bridge to connect with their celebrated past, a medium to relish the values associated and the beauty of a job well done. If you have handmade any object, you would be familiar with the priceless gratification you receive after the successful creation of a product. It is the same for them and they are determined to protect it at any cost. The least we can do is lend a hand and support them now as we will never fully realise the issue until it is our own culture that is threatened.

As we peruse through clothing racks, how often do we think about the technology behind their production or the effort of the people involved? Almost never.

Can the Handloom Industry Fight Back Against Fast Fashion?

As a woman, you’ve probably always assumed that having your eggs frozen would be the best way to guarantee you could start a family in the future when you felt ready. I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that, because it’s how it’s historically been sold to us. But unfortunately, we’ve been misled not only about the success rate of egg freezing, but its financial and physical tolls. The worst part? Clinics are now setting their sights on teenagers.

To understand why they would want to target women from such a young age, I’m going to draw on facts The Guardian uncovered, *[Should you freeze your eggs](https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2022/dec/13/should-you-freeze-your-eggs)?* Last year the UK’s fertility regulator called for an update to the law around egg freezing. This in itself is a major cause for concern. It shows that, although they might not be the majority, there are too many clinics deceiving women about the egg-freezing process. It seems that they don’t want to tell women about the risks or the low success rates, for fear that they’ll decide not to go through with it. For the clinic, that would mean no cash. It’s shocking, but the sad truth is some clinics and doctors are money hungry. Of course, there are many amazing doctors out there who really care about their patients and provide them with all the accurate information. But there are too many who aren’t like this, and that’s the problem.

Dr Zeynep Gurtin explained some of her findings from an academic analysis about how clinics advertised egg freezing in targeted ads and websites. Although conducted a couple of years ago, her findings are shocking nonetheless. She discovered that clinics tended to promote the benefits of egg freezing much more than the potential risks and downsides. One clinic even claimed on their website that they had an 85% success rate, [when in reality it’s around 18%](https://www.hfea.gov.uk/about-us/news-and-press-releases/2018-news-and-press-releases/press-release-age-is-the-key-factor-for-egg-freezing-success-says-new-hfea-report-as-overall-treatment-numbers-remain-low/)), though it depends on the woman’s age. When she and her team printed their findings and presented them to that clinic, they quickly took the claim down from their website. That shows that had they not been confronted, the clinic would’ve probably carried on promoting an extremely misleading figure to women. Women who, by the way, are already in a vulnerable position. Worrying about whether they’ll be able to have children can cause a lot of stress and with that comes desperation. They want a solution to their problems and with egg freezing being promoted as an insurance policy, it’s no wonder so many women are undertaking it.

But the reality is that only 1 in 5 women who have retrieved their frozen eggs have successfully gone on to become mothers. Sadly, the success rate is so low because of the process that happens when the eggs are thawed and fertilised. This is the part that no one really talks about because we’ve been sold the idea that every frozen egg has the potential to become a baby, which is simply not true.

![A liquid nitrogen bank containing sperm and egg samples|2000x1333](https://res.cloudinary.com/fledger/image/upload/v1679344485/post/egg_freezing_process_comp_ecpqdv.jpg "The egg-freezing treatment typically spans over four weeks and involves the process of ovarian stimulation to prepare the ovaries for egg collection. The harvested mature eggs are then cooled to below-zero temperatures for fertility preservation and later thawing.")

Up until September 2021, a woman’s frozen eggs could only be kept in storage for up to 10 years. Then this rule was changed to allow women more time to make a decision about what they wanted to do with them. [Now, you can continually add an extra 10 years up until 55 years](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/09/06/women-will-able-freeze-eggs-55-years/). It’s a great achievement for the women who campaigned for this change, because having only 10 years to decide what to do with your frozen eggs is unfair, considering that by that point the woman may only be in her thirties or forties. Maybe she wants to be a mum in her fifties, or maybe she still isn’t in the position in life she thought she’d be to welcome a child. But either way, women deserve all the time they need to think about whether to have a baby, because it’s a life-changing decision.

But the extra time women can now leave their eggs in storage for is likely to be the reason that some clinics are now targeting teenagers with ads on Instagram. A woman is considered at her most fertile [between the age of 18 and 24](https://www.healthline.com/health/fertility-timeline#Ages-18-to-24). This means clinics can use that figure to their advantage and prey on young women’s worries about the declining quality and quantity of her eggs as she ages. In theory, a teenager having her eggs frozen while they’re at their prime sounds great, especially as she has up to 55 years to decide what to do with them. But they might not understand [the physical and emotional repercussions, much less the financial ones](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jan/08/warning-for-uk-women-over-physical-and-financial-toll-of-egg-freezing) of the fertility treatment. For some, when the costs of every step of the egg-freezing process are put together, their bank balance can take a hit of £30,000. I doubt many teenagers would be able to afford it, but who’s to say they wouldn’t take out credit cards and loans? It’s despicable that clinics are preying on their naivety and it makes me wonder why there isn’t a minimum age at which they are allowed to advertise their services - 21 perhaps.

![An Instagram post by @londoneggbank making the statement: "Why the best time to freeze your eggs is before your 30s."|1200x773](https://res.cloudinary.com/fledger/image/upload/v1679344518/post/eggs_image_jti3yi.jpg "Instagram advertisements and posts capitalise on the anxieties of young women regarding their reproductive health deteriorating with age, while promoting their own fertility treatment and egg-freezing packages.")

Speaking of the physical repercussions, one of the main ones is the toll that the hormones you’d have to take have on your body. Once a person decides to undergo freezing their eggs, they have to inject themselves with hormones for around 10 to 12 days ([it can differ from person to person](https://www.healthline.com/health/egg-freezing-process#timeline)). This helps to increase the number of follicles, and therefore eggs, that are produced. The more eggs that are produced, the more likely the doctor will be able to retrieve a few healthy ones. The influx of hormones can understandably cause everything from mood swings to bloating. Everyone is affected differently, but it’s important to understand the physical repercussions before deciding if egg freezing is right for you, because unfortunately some doctors won’t go into detail about this for fear of scaring you off. But once you’re fully informed, you might decide you still want to do it, but at some point in the future instead, especially considering how it might affect you being able to work or study in those 10-12 days.

You’ll also have to have a transvaginal ultrasound so that the doctor can assess how many follicles you have before undergoing treatment. The hormones will boost this number, but the doctor will give you a rough number he expects it will rise to. Once you have an adequate number of follicles, you’re put to sleep under a general anaesthetic and a transvaginal probe with a needle will be inserted. The eggs collected are instantly flash-frozen and the whole procedure roughly takes 10-20 minutes. When you wake up, the doctor will inform you of how many eggs they managed to retrieve. Then, the eggs are put into ‘storage’ ready for when or if you decide to use them. This by the way, incurs a monthly cost. I don’t know about you but at this point I’d start to feel like a cash cow, constantly having to pump out money. Storage? I’m freezing my follicles not moving house. It’s a bizarre concept, but of course just another way for clinics to have a constant flow of income.

If you eventually decide to have your eggs thawed, you have to hope you’ll get at least one healthy fertilised egg, which in most cases sadly doesn’t happen. Again, this is something that some clinics don’t warn women about, and it’s horrifying to think people are being put through a physically and emotionally taxing process all potentially for nothing. Out of the several eggs that were frozen, there may only be a couple who take well to being fertilised once they’re met with the sperm from your partner, or the donor that you chose. The fertilised eggs are then genetically tested to screen for defects and then, if you’re lucky, you’ll end up with at least one healthy embryo.

Overall, you’ve potentially spent thousands of pounds and after all the probes, scans and tests you may not come away with a baby. This isn’t to put you off egg freezing if it’s something you’re interested in, but as [Alexandra from The Guardian interview put it](https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2022/dec/13/should-you-freeze-your-eggs), “You’re paying for the chance to have a child.” It’s good to be aware that egg freezing is not the guarantee that so many clinics and doctors may tell you it is. Only once you’re fully informed can you feel empowered to make such a potentially life-changing decision.

Let’s take back control of what happens to our bodies and probe the doctors first about what egg freezing entails, before they start probing us. We deserve clear answers and that’s what we should get once an update to the law around egg freezing has been made. It’s great to see the UK’s fertility regulator is on our side, showing that we refuse to be duped any longer about decisions concerning our bodies. I personally think a well-informed woman is a powerful one, and that’s our way of fighting back.

Egg freezing can be a long, costly, and emotionally taxing process, with no guarantee of a baby. Are clinics giving you all the facts?

Freezing your eggs is not an insurance policy for children

Driving north to our parent’s house for New Year’s Eve, I announced the monumental news to my older brother that this year, I would finally be starting my own side business. As it transpired, my brother confessed that he too had been grappling with ideas for his own money-making side project; feeling pressured to milk his existing hobbies for cash. From our discussion, it was obvious that we both felt compelled to have a side hustle and that we were not fulfilling our potential without one. All that had to be accomplished now was to figure out what the heck I was going to do. Unfortunately, my initial plan to purchase a fifth-tier, professional football team from Wales, had hit the proverbial cross-bar.

Giving it some thought, I wondered whether social media was to blame for setting this expectation that we should be going above and beyond our full-time jobs. The rise of influencer culture has set an expectation that we should be living life to the full at all times; pursuing several foreign holidays a year, attending festivals and eating out at expensive restaurants - where we can also get a new profile photo from the top of The Shard! The portrayal of living a lavish, active lifestyle is no longer reserved for models, rich kids, bloggers and sugar babies. It has now become the norm for everybody - regardless of class or status - to portray a certain lifestyle on social media. People want to be seen as interesting. They want to be seen as multifaceted. Therefore, if our reality is working a nine-to-five job, five days a week and spending the remainder curled up on the sofa gripped by the Crocodilian Death Scroll - also known as Tik Tok - it is now commonplace to feel guilt in our waning self-actualisation.

Social media compels us to flaunt all aspects of our lives, and hobbies are no exception. My Instagram feed is filled with photos of dog walks, wild swimmers, spin bikes and embroidery hoops. Hello world, here are the aspects of my life that make me interesting! And yet, being creative and busy - or at least being seen to be - was still not enough. My brother and I have had hobbies for years and yet we felt as though we ought to be maximising these activities for profit. Social media has hoodwinked us into believing that a lavish lifestyle is wholly achievable if we can generate supplementary income from our hobbies. We live in a world where clothes are sold on Depop instead of being donated to charity. Nobody puts paint to canvas anymore, instead they create digital art that will sell better on Etsy. We are surrounded by the products of other people’s hobbies and as a result, we cannot help but feel that we are on the wrong end of the transaction.

![A screenshot from Instagram with the message: "Find 3 Hobbies. One to make you money. One to keep you in shape. One to keep you creative.](https://res.cloudinary.com/fledger/image/upload/v1662926146/post/hustle_quote_exlujy.png "Amid social and economic pressures, young people feel compelled to optimise and commercialise their free time instead of just enjoying it. Source: [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/book.of.leaders/)")

Perhaps we consider that the efforts expended on our hobbies warrants some form of financial recognition. If you are going to upcycle furniture, repair guitars or sketch in your free time, there is a satisfaction in being able to sell those products which you have poured your time and energy into. You can recuperate the cost of materials you are using whilst also obtaining tangible recognition that your skills are appreciated by others.

For some, the desire to commercialise their hobbies may be rooted in pursuing a new full-time career. My younger brother has always played guitar on the side of his full-time job, and he is now finally able to pursue a career in music on a full-time basis - something that would be much harder to achieve had he not developed his hobby for profit several years ago. Perhaps subconsciously, I am searching for a fallback career in case [robots really do replace lawyers?](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58158820)

The pressure to portray a lavish lifestyle not only encourages us to go above and beyond our day jobs, but also convinces us that our current income is inadequate. I have certainly considered options for increasing my monthly income in light of rising living costs. Creating a side hustle from my existing hobbies feels much more achievable to me than renting out my non-existent property, and significantly less seedy than selling my sweaty socks to middle-aged men on the internet.

In my endeavour to find a USP for my first business venture, I quickly realised that setting up a small business is no mean feat. Approximately [60% of small businesses will go bust within the first three years](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/01/24/start-ups-across-uk-going-bust-need-careful-management-economy/). Therefore if you really want to pursue a business venture, then you need to be prepared for failure. It requires resilience and commitment, something that comes from a passion for what you are doing, and not simply the desire to make money. You will also need the financial backing, which may prove tricky in today’s turbulent economy. _(It was for this very reason that my side hustle as a digital artist never took off; with my bank account rudely opposing my proposed purchase of a drawing tablet, laptop and printer-scanner simultaneously)_. Running a small business takes a great deal of time and dedication. It imposes deadlines and a standard of care above what you would produce simply for your own enjoyment. You will need to comply with the laws that regulate the commercial sphere and learn how to file your own tax returns.

It is achievable. I have friends who have turned their creative passion into a successful business. They are incredibly talented at what they do and their skill and passion shines through. Social media has even played a huge part in the success of their businesses, by showcasing their work, creating their brand and building their customer base. Yet despite what capitalism may tell us, running a business does not have to be for everyone. You can absolutely keep hobbies for yourself without exploiting them for profit - and you can even keep them off social media if you try hard enough!

> The pressure to portray a lavish lifestyle not only encourages us to go above and beyond our day jobs, but it also convinces us that our current income is inadequate.

Recently, I have made an effort to pursue hobbies outside of work that have always appealed to me. I am taking piano lessons, I am learning to rock-climb, I write. Each of these hobbies allows me to explore aspects of my personality and to focus on personal growth. I can unwind from a stressful work day by exercising my body and my mind in ways that I would not otherwise know were possible. Most of all, because these hobbies stem from a genuine interest and build on my existing skills, they make me feel like my truest form of self. Whether or not I decide to pursue a small business out of my hobbies remains to be seen. For now, I am simply grateful for the many other rewards to be gained from partaking in activities that bring me so much joy in this otherwise tumultuous and overwhelming world.

Society today promotes [capitalism at its most extreme](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50562518); the only valued purpose of business is its ability to make money. When this societal attitude is combined with the pressures of social media, we are made to believe that we should be exploiting every aspect of our lives for profit. Yet as humans have always done and will continue to do, we can choose to acknowledge and oppose societal pressures in pursuit of our own interests. Many of us will have legitimate reasons for converting our hobbies into a business, whether financial or otherwise. Yet we must not underestimate the benefits of having a hobby. They enable us to relax and unwind, to explore our personality and make friends along the way. There are also [proven mental health benefits to having a hobby, which can reduce stress and improve your mood](https://www.headtohealth.gov.au/meaningful-life/purposeful-activity/hobbies#:~:text=Research%20shows%20that%20people%20with,skills%20and%20relationships%20with%20others.). In our social media dominated world, it is more important than ever to prioritise our mental health and engage with others face-to-face. Hobbies allow us to achieve both of these things. Having a hobby allows us to create and cultivate a space in which self-care and self-development are assigned priority. A valuable space, that in my opinion, extends beyond the worth of any business.

Social media has made it harder for us to simply enjoy our hobbies without feeling an overwhelming compulsion to convert them to side hustles.

Is social media robbing the fun from our hobbies?

Purpose. It’s a hell of a thing, right? I mean, we all have goals in life. Milestones we want to hit before responsibility comes-a-calling. But what happens after we achieve them? By all accounts, we should feel fulfilled. Satisfied in our determination to see a task through to the end. This obviously wears off at some point, leaving us with the feeling of: What do I do now? This feeling of unease is something a lot of us go through as we reach a certain age. Especially as we edge ever closer to our thirties. After all, we’re supposed to have this whole life “thing” figured out by then.

It’s not easy. But then again, no one ever said it was supposed to be either. Whether you’ve just graduated from university or reached a point in life where you’ve simply hit a wall, the pressures of purpose can always feel overwhelming. And why shouldn’t it? This may be the first time you’ve truly stared down the barrel of the rest of your life. This of course comes with its own set of questions. Is this all there is? What do I want to be? Am I doing something wrong? I mean, imagine trying to distil your entire existence through the lens of a few vague questions. it would be ludicrous.

The worst part about life is that no one can really tell you how to do it. Each of us is gifted with a set of inherent skills that will eventually determine where we fit into the world. Add onto this a mixed bag of good and bad personal experiences, and what we’re left with is a human being entirely unique from anyone else. So in short, no, I can't tell you how to live your life, but I can tell you how to find direction. To help make something so vast and unquantifiable as life just that much easier to digest.

Before I came to university, I had a dead-end job in the middle of nowhere. Before that, I had my first run-in with another university. This time I wanted to be an illustrator. Suffice it to say, it wasn’t for me. So I decided to drop out halfway through my first year. When I returned home I told myself I would learn how to draw on my own. As you’d expect - despite my best intentions - life found a way to put a pin in that. Since I was living with my parents, they asked that I get a job - something small to pay for room and board. After a year of unemployment, I was hired to stack shelves and sell rugs at an interiors store. I’m sure at one time or another we’ve all been an extra in that old tale.

What should have been a part time thing - at least until I felt confident in my skills as an illustrator - turned into a four-year commitment. Part time became full time. Room and board became a house share with two other full-timers. As far as I was concerned that was it for me. I had done it. I had the job. I had the house, I even had disposable income to buy whatever I wanted. So why wasn’t I happy?

Well, you could argue it was for a myriad of reasons. I wasn’t feeling challenged enough. I was perhaps too comfortable. Maybe I just didn’t like what I had become. I mean, we all have expectations for ourselves. Dreams from our childhood of the lives we wanted to live, the things we wanted to do as we grew up. Obviously it’s hard to live up to these expectations sometimes, but that doesn’t always mean it’s impossible. We just have to level with reality a smidge.

It was during my lowest point, when I - much like thousands of other people - faced the same existential abyss of “forever”. I remember a very specific moment that seemed to herald this need for change. It was a shift like any other and I had just been asked to go into the back area to pack away a shipment of towels we’d received earlier that day. This would happen every week without fault. I realised after about twenty minutes or so, that I had just been staring at this open box of magenta coloured face towels. I couldn’t move. I was stuck in an almost catatonic state. There were no thoughts, just the realisation that this was it. This was my life.

> If you’re unhappy with your job, I don't think suddenly going to the gym would be a healthy way of confronting it.

Naturally, my initial reaction was to just leave. Open the fire exit in the back and run home. But there I stood and continued to stand for another twenty minutes. At some point my boss walked in and chided me for not making any progress, so my primitive motor functions kicked in and that was that. By around six-thirty in the evening the packing was done, and since it was another slow weekday there was little else to do. So I stayed in the back and found something else to occupy my time.

This moment and my initial reaction to it was the culmination of those four terrible years. This perpetual desire to find the next thing to distract me and keep my mind occupied. The thought process being that if I didn't think about it there was nothing I had to solve - and since my soul had been worn down to its dullest nib, I was far too tired to solve much of anything. This took the form of drinking - a rather large component actually, playing video games, watching movies. Anything so long as it released me from the now.

It became obvious to me that I had to do the unthinkable and really take a look at my life and where it was heading. So I began by asking myself reasonable questions like: What are the tangible things in my life that are making me so unhappy? Obviously, this question is a little bit more difficult to answer so candidly. My job. Where I lived. My overall declining social life. I felt like I was going to explode if I stayed in that space any longer. So, keeping with that thought of small steps, I asked: Well, how do we go about changing that?

The most draining aspect at that point was absolutely my job. Now, my choices were very limited, which was good in a way. If I hated my job so much, I could simply quit, right? The only problem with that line of thought was that if I ended up quitting my job I would have to get another one just like it. Remember I still had rent to pay. Since I was a university dropout, with little to no professional skills, I would have a hard time finding something truly satisfying. Maybe I could move somewhere where there were more jobs available? This answer always struck me as superficial. A solution that was never meant to tackle the problem at its core. Now, don’t get me wrong, change can be good. But if you’re unhappy with your job, I don't think suddenly going to the gym would be a healthy way of confronting it.

So, what could I do to widen my potential job search? Well, my qualifications were nothing to brag about. Maybe I could work on that? But that would mean going back to university again, and I'd already tried that. And yet what were my alternatives? It hit all the criteria. I could - even if it all was only for a few years - get away from that house, that place. I could meet a whole bunch of like-minded people. And most importantly I could work towards developing a substantial set of skills tailored made for the working world I was best suited for - whatever that was. At the end of the day, what did I have to lose?

Much like those around me, I found change to be a scary concept. To uproot this comfortable lifestyle I'd carved out for myself. It all felt like so much work, even something as simple as checking out the universities. It’s hard to remember much from back then, but I wouldn't be surprised if the very notion of extra work after a long ten-hour shift was enough to call the whole thing off. But as I was already halfway through my twenties I would have to make the time or risk stewing in mediocrity for the rest of my life.

It was around March of 2018 that I sent my applications off and after a few hiccups with my disastrously antiquated qualifications as well as a whole summer of no news or updates, I was finally accepted. Albeit, so long as I passed their foundation year first. I won’t go through my whole university career, since we’d be here all day. And really, that's not the point I want you to take away from this. I’m not saying that university will solve all your problems. The point is that for significant change to happen, you need to really take stock of your life and ask yourself those often dreaded questions. Namely, Why am I not happy? Now, some people might absolutely be comfortable with their lot in life and more power to them. But if you’re not, then it’s time to take charge.

These decisions won’t come easy and might require a lot of work to achieve them. But isn’t that what life is all about? A series of obstacles to overcome? My dad really put it into perspective for me a long time ago when he said “you don’t want to be that old man on his rocking chair, regretting all the things you never did.” and I suppose when we’re young, we believe we have all the time in the world to make those things happen. But as we all end up discovering, life really does have a tendency to sneak up on you. And before you know it, you’re that much older and those choices you thought were so plentiful have seemingly passed you by.

I’m now reaching the end of university, and with it another four years of my life. Do I regret it? Absolutely not. Do I still fear the future? Of course I do, who doesn’t? But I am truly grateful for what I have achieved. And for the first time in almost eight years, I feel confident in my life moving forward. I’ve met some fantastic people that have really inspired me while I've been a student. And most importantly I found something - a tangible skill - that I'm good at. This has opened the way for so many different possibilities and even though I don't have anything lined up immediately after graduating there are so many options to choose from now that I don't feel quite as anxious anymore.

So, regardless of where you are or the circumstances you think are depriving you of meaning, take the time and find those tiny first steps towards something else - wherever that might be. They could be big steps. Or they can be small. But it’s better to be honest with yourself while you still have the time to do so.

I had done it. I had the job. I had the house, I even had disposable income to buy whatever I wanted. So why wasn’t I happy?

The dreaded question: Why am I not happy?

Towards the end of 2021, the release of the Netflix film *Don't Look Up* was highly anticipated by many. While it received mixed reviews, it was a standout film for plenty of people. Brilliantly made, with an all-star cast and the perfect balance between humour and the grave issue faced by Planet Earth: an asteroid on its way to kill everyone and destroy the planet. Our governments' response to the asteroid was almost too reminiscent of how other issues, such as COVID-19 and climate change, have been dealt with by some world leaders in recent years. Ignoring the science at hand? Tick. Making decisions swayed by money? Tick. While this may have been an amusing allegory for some, it did leave me with a sense of dread once the film had finished. Climate change anxiety affects many people, particularly the younger generations. According to a [2021 survey](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-58549373), nearly 60% of young people are very or extremely worried about climate change. It is a concern that can be all-consuming at times and yet leaves many people feeling completely helpless.

Growing up, climate change was an issue we were always made aware of at school. Simple science lessons taught us the importance of small acts, such as not leaving the taps on while brushing your teeth or putting on an extra jumper instead of turning the heating on. At the time, these tiny changes in behaviour felt like they could have a genuinely significant impact on helping to prevent global warming. However, as time passed and I grew older, I began to better understand what was actually happening with climate change. Suddenly, I was reading some terrifying stories in the news: forest fires, record temperatures being reached in summer, heat waves each year, and animals like orangutans being pushed out of their natural habitats. David Attenborough's nature documentaries were laced with warnings about global warming and video footage of the damning evidence. All at once, I was beginning to realise that I needed to do more than turn the taps off and wrap up warmer in the house. More behaviours needed to change.

![A scene from Netflix's "Don't Look Up"](https://res.cloudinary.com/fledger/image/upload/v1643913815/post/dontlookup_o6wc2y.png "Our own efforts are simply a drop in the ocean in comparison to the actions of our governments, large corporations, and the wealthy. Despite scientists' repeated warnings since the late 1950s about the effects of climate change, their ignorance has caused many young people to feel helpless about a lack of control over their futures. Image sourced from [variety.com](https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Streep.Rylance.Sitroomgroupshot.jpg?w=681&h=383&crop=1).")

With a small amount of online research, it is quite easy to identify what we can do to help the environment. While recycling is a crucial habit to maintain, we can also make significant changes by reducing the amount of single-use plastic that we use: from taking a reusable bag to the supermarket; buying fruits and vegetables without plastic wrapping; using reusable water bottles and coffee cups; and cutting the use of plastic straws. While these may feel like insignificant changes, if you consider the reduction in one person's single-use plastic waste within a year, the impact of millions of people doing the same would be remarkable.

Another crucial change that we can make is reducing consumption of animal products, with a particular focus on meat. This is one of the most significant issues in climate change discussions. Not only do cows produce a substantial amount of methane, a greenhouse gas that traps [30 times more heat within the atmosphere than carbon dioxide](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140327111724.htm), but the deforestation of land to expand farmland for livestock is also creating a severe problem. Forests are deliberately being set on fire to clear land for grazing, which is releasing even more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and reducing the number of trees that we have to absorb Earth's carbon dioxide naturally. Furthermore, animals' natural habitats are being destroyed, contributing to the decrease of populations of certain species, such as the beloved orangutans. It is estimated that [over 25% of the land on Earth is used to raise livestock](https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2013/10/World-Map-by-Land-Use-01.png). The process of eating meat has become highly inefficient, with livestock eating a greater mass of plant-based food during their lifetime than the mass of meat produced after their death. If plant-based diets were to become more common, less produce and farmland would be wasted if the food grown for the animals was instead intended for human consumption. Eating less meat can, therefore, significantly reduce your carbon footprint.

Despite these changes, how much impact do we as individuals really have? It can feel incredibly overwhelming to know that our own efforts are simply a drop in the ocean in comparison to the actions of our governments, large corporations, and the wealthy. Despite scientists' repeated warnings since the late 1950s about the effects of climate change, their ignorance has caused many young people to feel helpless about a lack of control over their futures. As we see increasingly drastic changes in weather and natural disasters across the globe, there is undoubtedly a feeling of underlying doom for young people when considering where humanity could be in 50 years' time. While many of us are trying our best to change our behaviours to make the future of this planet seem brighter, it feels as though governments across the world are failing to respond appropriately to global warming issues. Even a [paper signed by over 11,000 scientists worldwide stating that we are in a climate emergency](https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/70/1/8/5610806) has not been enough to encourage governments to act swiftly to try and save the planet while it is still possible.

![COP26](https://res.cloudinary.com/fledger/image/upload/v1643913815/post/cop26_tcgowm.png "Image sourced from [carbonbrief.org](https://www.carbonbrief.org/).")

Last year's COP26 event in Glasgow provided people with a small amount of hope that governments would work together to make positive decisions that would have a genuine and long-lasting impact, especially following a year of extreme weather and natural disasters across the world, such as wildfires, heatwaves, and floods. During the summit, over 100 countries' leaders pledged to cut CO2 emissions in the following year, to reduce their coal usage, and stop deforestation by 2030. However, pledges made at the summit are generally made to be self-policed, so this is not a complete guarantee that governments will implement these changes.

Within the UK, we have cut down on our non-renewable energy sources. We have increased the use of renewable energy sources considerably (such as wind and solar power), with almost half of our electricity produced by renewable sources in 2020. On the broader picture, however, the [UK's finance industry creates 1.8 times more emissions than the whole of the UK](https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/resources/big-smoke-uk-finance-report/) through the provision of loans and investments to polluting companies. This is not just an issue within the UK: it has been found that the [wealthiest 1% of the global population have produced over double the amount of carbon pollution produced by 3.1 billion of the world's poorest people between 1990 and 2015](https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/confronting-carbon-inequality). Financial gain appears to be a more enticing future for the wealthy than protecting our planet. Although governments are likely aware of how these investments contribute to global warming, there seems to be no effort from them to stop the finance industry's errors. With statistics like this, the acts of recycling, reducing meat consumption, and turning the lights off in your house, suddenly seem to pale in comparison. How are we meant to feel like we are making positive changes to our environment when governments and wealthy people appear to be cancelling out our behaviour?

Does it make us feel helpless? Yes. Does that mean we should stop our positive behavioural changes? Absolutely not. The habits we have developed to help the environment could become even more significant if more people around us also begin to follow suit. For example, if fewer animal products are consumed by a growing number of people, supermarkets and food production companies may reach a point where they realise that they need to reduce the amount of meat, eggs, milk, etc. that is produced. Furthermore, by encouraging more people to read scientific literature about climate change, sign petitions, and protest for genuine change from our governments, perhaps the future of our planet will not look as dire as it does now. COP26 was one of the most significant summits held so far. Some of the changes proposed and agreed upon by countries, such as reducing coal usage had never been brought up before. While not all countries did agree on everything, governments across the world may be beginning to understand the anxieties many of us are feeling about global warming and will start making the right decisions.

So, how do we avoid an ending like that in *Don't Look Up*? We can drink our oat milk, eat a vegetarian dinner, turn the heating down by a few degrees, recycle our rubbish, and hope with all our hearts that the people who have genuine influence over the future of our planet will finally open their eyes and see that our time, and the future of our youngest generations, is running out. Our planet is beautiful, and it's high time people in power started acting like it.

Ignoring the science at hand? Tick. Making decisions swayed by money? Tick.

Are we wasting our time with climate activism?

## A youtube channel for productivity geeks.

Between March 2020, and June 2021, Youtuber James Scholz hosted so-called ‘study with me' live streams on his youtube channel - seemingly numbingly boring videos of himself sitting down to do nothing but study for hours at a time. In the midst of this growing phenomenon, there were a few things that made James Scholz's streams recognisable: the comfortable yellow lighting; the nostalgia of an old, too-large-for-this-world PC monitor; endless sticky notes on the walls; and the somewhat aloof presence of Mika the ginger cat. The most recognisable, however, was just how long these study sessions lasted. 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, 15 months straight.

I was one of the hundreds of thousands of viewers who watched the youtube videos. Stuck at home completing my own university degree remotely, hoping to keep myself accountable for study at a time when libraries were closed and lectures were contained to the same small screen on which I would also follow news, watch movies, and browse social media. So I turned to streamers like James Scholz to provide an experience that I sorely missed (and to see Mika, of course). These videos became the virtual equivalent of going to the library with your friends; they created a sense of accountability and connection we coud share in that was, for a while, lost. James Scholz is not the only Youtube streamer who does this type of thing, but the cosy setup and sheer number of study hours was so impressive that many people tuned into Youtube for the show. The channel had its own community.

![Livestream of James Scholz studying](https://res.cloudinary.com/fledger/image/upload/v1641420226/post/productivity_james_scholz_ilftis.png "Screenshot from ‘study with me live pomodoro | 12 hours' on the James Scholz Youtube channel, 11 May 2021. Courtesy of [James Scholz](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0qQGvJoK68&t=11083s&ab_channel=JamesScholz).")

Studying alongside James Scholz in his videos with thousands of others, I was, to some extent, impressed by his work ethic. Yet another part of me felt disappointed that this had become my measurement of time well spent: ceaseless hours in a brightly lit room, staring at a screen whilst listening to Youtube videos. Boredom. It began to feel like the culmination of many things that had been brewing in my mind about productivity, the ‘hustle,' and what it all meant.

## A book for recovering productivity geeks.

These are some of the questions that Oliver Burkeman tackles in his 2021 release Four Thousand Weeks, the title referring to the number of weeks the average person lives. Burkeman is a long-time writer for The Guardian, having spent over a decade under the now-retired, self-improvement-geared ‘This Column Will Change Your Life'. His new release, unsurprisingly, has a clear, authoritative, but still relatable and occasionally humorous tone that comes from someone who has spent years thinking and writing about productivity. In Four Thousand Weeks, Burkeman wants to reframe productivity culture into a more meaningful exercise in considering what to do with the smallness of our time spent alive. To argue his point, Burkeman takes inspiration from a wide range of sources but feels most comfortable in the company of contemporary psychology and old philosophers.

Burkeman, myself, and many others, became enraptured by the productivity sphere when we first encountered it; I with James Scholz. Ideal morning routines, time tracking, mega-effective note taking systems filled our minds. What once felt exciting, however, started to wear off after a while. We found reasons to stop waking up at 5am to do a workout and meditate before classes: we're exhausted and need sleep; it's too much work; it doesn't matter anyway. And after trying and failing and trying again [many of us are now tired of the early mornings and the guilt](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/office-space/the-frustration-with-productivity-culture).

Young people are perhaps not so much products as they are (somewhat) willing participants of online cultures; Youtube, Twitter, Twitch, Tik Toc, etc. Many of us have encounter productivity culture, follow it, and find it valuable; after a while, however, the diamond stops glistening and we find that we are left with a stone in our hands. The stone might be useful for some things, like one piece of a stony pathway, but it is not a diamond.

Oliver Burkeman, a self-professed long-time follower of productivity and hustle culture, shares in Four Thousand Weeks about his own journey with finding the stone and how we might let go of our idea of the diamond. It is the ultimate book for the recovering productivity geek.

> Productivity gives the false impression that we can do everything we want; we *can* become an all-conquering person, never again succumbing to the limitedness that time imposes upon us.

## The perils and joys of procrastination.

The key to better time management is, according to Burkeman, to realise that all worries about life stem from its brevity. Life is too unsettlingly short; we must make as much of it as we can. If I am spending too much time on social media, watching streams, or in a low-paying non-descript job that I have no interest in, then I feel like I am wasting that time, and time is immensely valuable.

We also feel like we are losing time on the things we don't do:  the experiences we didn't share in and the ambitions that we haven't had the time to get to. That cause that we care about - the environment, caring for our elders, getting involved in our community - but we are too busy to get involved in each day.

![Computer screen with Do More](https://res.cloudinary.com/fledger/image/upload/v1641420226/post/productivity_do_more_hkwjxy.jpg "The focus on perfect, well-organised aesthetics is a prominent feature of productivity culture. Photo by [Carl Heyerdahl](https://unsplash.com/photos/KE0nC8-58MQ).")

Oftentimes, it feels like this stems from that one fire-breathing dragon that we never seem to get control over: procrastination. Procrastination is also a heavily featured character in Four Thousand Weeks, where Burkeman suggests that to get over it we must realise that it actually exists in two forms: the good and the bad.

The good kind of procrastination is what we channel in order to live our lives as we want to live them. That is, we procrastinate - or rather, choose not doing - certain things. It is, after all, by not choosing to do some tasks that we choose to follow others, ones that give our lives much more meaning: developing our hobbies; bonding with loved ones. Not doing good procrastinating results in thinking that you can get everything done, trying to do everything, and endlessly falling into the endless tasks that you now have convinced yourself need to be done. We have to use the good kind of procrastination in order to get on with our lives.

The other kind - the one that more accurately describes what I am doing when I sit for hours on my phone when I had actually planned to study or read that ridiculously long article I've been putting off - is less helpful to us. It also has to do with time. More specifically, the inability to accept the finitude of time and our own limited capabilities. I might be procrastinating because, actually, if I were to face this task I would be confronted with the fact that I have a limited amount of time to do it and it is undoubtedly not going to turn out exactly as I want it to.

There is also the other ‘positive' of endlessly procrastinating: if the end product is not something I am happy about, I can just say that I didn't have enough time for it rather than having to deal with the idea that it might be saying something about my own capabilities. But of course, it is only when we clearly see our weaknesses that we can understand how we may improve them.

## The lost promise of productivity culture.

Our obsession with productivity is ultimately an obsession with the unfair unexpectedness of time. Our feelings of anxiety (hurried heartbeats, restlessness) that cause us to procrastinate come from wanting to know with certainty that something will happen. And yet, this is impossible. Burkeman says that the solution is to realise and learn to accept that “insecurity and vulnerability are the default state”.

Taking time to think about why we feel anxious, and not allowing ourselves to run away from the physical sensations of anxiety, may be the solution. After all, “what we think of as ‘distractions' aren't the ultimate cause of our being distracted. They're just the places we go to seek relief from the discomfort of confronting limitation”. Burkeman's suggestions aren't far off from those offered by mindfulness and meditation: that once we get to know our mind and sit with it, we can start to feel better and make fewer escape-driven choices.

Productivity gives the false impression that we can do everything we want; we can become an all-conquering person, never again succumbing to the limitedness that time imposes upon us. But this is simply not right. “The day will never arrive when you finally have everything under control,” Burkeman writes. There will always be the next task, and the one after that, not to speak of the people in our lives that will inevitably disturb us (as they should, Burkeman says, for why is it worth having time to ourselves if we cannot share it with others, too?). Having everything under control is the glistening of the productivity diamond: “we're constantly attempting to master [time] - to channel ourselves into a position of dominance and control over our unfolding lives so that we might finally feel safe and secure, and no longer so vulnerable to events”. Protection from vulnerability is an alluring, but impossible, state.

## Is productivity really all bad?

I think Burkeman's list of actions in the appendix (focus on one project at a time; spend more time meditating; etc) echoes something of what Four Thousand Weeks does not mention yet is a very real reason why people take to the productivity mindset. In The Art of Taking Action, Gregg Kech shows how much our life improves when we do less thinking-about-doing and lot more actual-doing. “Action isn't something that comes after figuring things out. Action is a way of figuring things out,” Kech writes. And productivity culture is fast to let us know that it is not ‘thinking about' getting up at 5am, it's all about what to do once the alarm goes off at the start of the day. This can be useful for those prone to overthinking, and might actually be a step towards a less anxious everyday life. Burkeman's suggestion that once you get rid of your unhelpful assumptions about time “you get to roll up your sleeves and start work on what's gloriously possible instead” may become more possible once we find tools that help us do so better, making us feel more confident that we are able to do this work at all. Only as long as we do not let it fool us into thinking that we now have it all ‘under control.'

Besides these issues, I think Four Thousand Weeks holds a lot of value for a culture and its people for whom productivity has become a large part. It is a much needed reflection for a phenomenon that swallows up the lives of many people.

## James Scholz stopped streaming.

James Scholz and his streams did not last. For whatever reason, on June 19th, James Scholz stopped streaming, and there was no stream on his channel for the following months. It was in November that the youtube channel started to upload videos once again, this time in much shorter, manageable study sessions. It makes sense to me that this kind of intensive focus on time is never much sustainable in the long term.

It is perhaps unfair to point out James Scholz as a metaphor of the whole of productivity culture, something that is also an industry with its own profit-related motivations and extends beyond the borders of any one individual. But for me, the obsession with productivity that led to the fame of one person for the sake of unbridled focus on the excessively productive use of time felt like a reminder that something had gone missing in our community. This is where Four Thousand Weeks delivers - as a reminder of the only really important productivity question that we need to learn and ask ourselves: “what would it mean to spend the only time you get in a way that truly feels as though you're making it count?”

![Four Thousand Weeks cover photo](https://res.cloudinary.com/fledger/image/upload/v1675114306/post/four_thousand_hours_jp93zt.jpg "Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. Cover photo courtesy of [Penguin](https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/111/1111522/four-thousand-weeks/9781847924018.html).")

If I am spending too much time on social media, or in a low-paying job that I have no interest in, then I am wasting that time, and time is immensely valuable.

“Productivity Culture” isn’t living up to its promises

As we enter cold and wintery months and prepare for the festive season, money will start to flow out of our purses, wallets, and bank accounts. Food, alcohol, clothes, gifts for loved ones – you name it, we're buying it. Yet, while we’re spending our money, there’s something important that we must remember – small businesses. In order to support our local high street and those who run it, as well as attempt to shop more sustainably by doing so, we need to shop small. But just how easy is it to do this?

Independent shops, cafés, and restaurants have always had unique charms to them that help to make our local high streets special in their own way. Whether it’s a cosy little tea room on the seafront in Somerset, or a beautifully whimsical bookshop tucked away on a quiet street in London, it is small businesses like these that provide our lives with multifariousness.

Despite this, small businesses have been presented with a number of challenges in recent years. One of these challenges has been the growth of large online markets and fast-fashion retailers, such as Amazon and Boohoo. These massive online businesses have not only decreased demand for high-street shops due to the ease with which orders can be made, but also have a substantial carbon footprint as a result of shipping and waste production.

Another difficulty faced by small businesses was the COVID-19 pandemic that swept across the globe in 2020. With lockdown forcing high-street hotspots such as shops, restaurants, and pubs to close – with no timeframe on when things would begin to open again – small businesses faced a lot of uncertainty. When would they be able to open again? Would they be able to open at full capacity? Would they be able to continue employing all of their staff once lockdown ended, or would cuts need to be made?

For those who were able to re-open their doors once lockdown restrictions were loosened, [they needed the support of their local customers](https://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/downloads/simply-business-report-covid-19-impact-on-small-business.pdf). Posters popped up in the windows and informative posts were shared online, all with the same message: ‘Shop small! Shop sustainably! Support local businesses!’. If we want to not only retain the individuality of our local high streets, but also help those struggling business owners and try to slow down climate change where we can by making sustainable choices, we as consumers must step up and do our bit.

And yet, here’s the issue: how easy is it for young people to support these businesses? For students, who either have part-time jobs or are making it through their studies with loans, and for those doing apprenticeships or training for entry-level jobs, spending money is something that needs to be carefully considered. Even for those who have since graduated from university and are on starting salaries: once payments have gone towards tax, rent, bills, loans, and living costs, the remaining disposable income is minimal.

![Amazon delivery](https://res.cloudinary.com/fledger/image/upload/v1639435654/post/amazon_hz3ctm.jpg "\"It is time to consider how urgently you need the item you were going to order on Amazon, when you could walk down the high street and find it in one of those shops instead.\"")

Despite this, the winter months approach and the social media posts are uploaded about the importance of supporting local businesses, and how the positive effects include not only helping the business owners but also can be better for the environment. This sounds ideal – who wouldn’t want to support this? The problem: is it always affordable, or is it a luxury for the more privileged among us? Your local cosy bookshop may sell a copy of a hardback book you have been wanting to buy, but Waterstones might be including it in a "buy one get one half price" deal, or, even better, Amazon might have made it available as a free download on Kindle. With those options presented to you, and knowing you need to save money where you can, the cheaper decision is likely to be the one that is chosen. Once again, the local café may make a charming twist on a cheese and ham toastie with a delicious latte to accompany it, but knowing you have some points to spend in Costa to get yourself a free drink, the choice feels obvious. The large chain coffee shop gets your money, you get a free drink, and the local café loses another customer. Should we be made to feel guilty for pouring our money into already large businesses? Perhaps. Yet, it is not always our fault for doing so. When the easier, cheaper, option is presented to us, it is hard to ignore.

This begs the question: how can we still try to support small businesses when it is not the most convenient option for us at this stage in our lives? In order to begin to support them, we need to make a conscious effort to change our routines and habits when it comes to spending money. It is time to consider how urgently you need the item you were going to order on Amazon when you could walk down the high street and find it in one of those shops instead. Furthermore, if there’s an item of clothing you want to buy cheaply, and could easily buy from an online fast-fashion retailer, it might be worth having a look at local charity shops and seeing if they have a similar item in stock. This is still a cheap option, but is also more sustainable and does not contribute to the ever-growing fast-fashion industry. Also, local shops and cafés might offer loyalty cards for a certain amount of money spent or the number of coffees drunk, which provide similar perks to the points systems larger businesses provide. The difference is, becoming a regular customer at a small business could make a much more significant change than if it were for a larger business. Local shops may also have a website, with delivery or click-and-collect services that provide the same ease that larger online businesses have given us over the years, or social media pages that could easily be followed and shared to increase their reach! Acts like this, while only small, are ways in which those with low or no income can still make conscious decisions in order to spend their money more locally and in some cases more sustainably.

The option to shop small and sustainably should not be one that is only available to the wealthier and more privileged among us, and should not exist in order to make those who do not fit into those categories feel guilty. As we grow older and perhaps begin to earn more money or reach a more stable point in our careers, it may become easier for us to simply spend our money in those local shops and cafés without concerning ourselves over how to save every penny. Until then, we can hope to support them in other small ways, and there is no need to feel a sense of guilt for being unable to choose the ‘shop small and sustainably’ option every time. After all, the contribution of multiple small actions can still have a positive impact.

Your local bookshop may sell a copy of a book you have been wanting to buy, but Waterstones might be including it in a "buy one get one half price" deal.