Matt Sennett

The Eco challenge has definitely had a positive impact on my life over the past few weeks. I feel like I am more active and energized due to a lot of my challenges being based around being outside and active. My one-time challenge was registering to vote which is something I do every year but had been putting it off for a bit. Living in Illinois makes it pretty easy to do a mail in ballot and I ensure I signed up for it. The only complication with that was a decision whether or not to register in PA or back home due to Pennsylvania’s larger impact on the national level. Ultimately it was not that hard of decision to register back home since I want to have an impact where I am from and there still are important elections going on. The two new challenges for this week were to exercise 90 minutes a day (in addition to my 30 min of walking) and eat 2 wholefood meals a day. The biggest surprise to me was defiantly getting those two whole food meals a day. While I definitely, try my best to ensure eating fresh fruits and vegetables along with unprocessed meats you do not really realize how much processed food you eat in a day. This can range from cereal to snack to even drinks if you throw those in. I would say the biggest barrier to adding this to my daily life would be being a college student and on the college meal plan. While the meal plan is definitely sufficient for me in food availability and variety there are non-whole foods and the college lifestyle is the most conducive to this kind of diet. I would defiantly say I soon as I get my own place, I could adapt that kind of lifestyle a lot better. Though the article about eating healthy in the college dining hall help. The point that resonated with me the most was about mindful eating and actively making choices instead of just piling everything on. Which leads to both unhealthy choices and food waste.

The other daily challenge I adopted was 90 minutes of exercise daily. At first time could be a possible barrier but since I have been waking up at 5:30 prior to class time is definitely possible. The only thing that has altered this and slowed me down a bit was suffer both upper and lower body injuries that required me to alter how I work out and scale back the intensity but I have still made it work and has been an incredible start to my day. The workout followed by the meditation session I do has really altered my state of mind throughout the day and put me in a much better state of mind. Reading the article about how to work out daily has help especially the set a time since this puts a goal in mind and a set block to do it rather than an arbitrary goal. Also laying out everything I need in the morning the nigh before has made the transition a lot better. This is definitely a daily task I will make sure to continue throughout my life and would just need to alter based on current physical state and injury conditions. 

I think I finally feel I am settling into the groove of things with the eco-challenge. This past week has been really rewarding. The two challenges I tackled from last week have gone from a bit of an inconvenience at times to a positive lifestyle choice. The meditation daily has become something I really enjoy and an overall great way to start the day. One of the resources that really assisted me in the transition was the article talking about how to meditate. One of the best tips it gave was the need for consistency both in time of day and location and creating a habit of always doing it there. This has allowed me to have a consistent start to my day and a good way to clear my head prior to going to class. The driving less has also become a lot easier and simply requires me to do a bit more planning and possibly timing carpools to locations if need be. 

The two new challenges I tagged onto this week were doing a 30-minute walk and five-minute showers. The shower one was definitely easier. While I already took fairly short showers, I realized I can reduce ever more water usage by simply not standing there for an excess amount of time and just clean up quickly. The 30-minute walk one was surprisingly easy to incorporate into my schedule. Originally, I thought it would be hard to find 30 minutes during the day on top of the time I already dedicate to working out but it was surprisingly easy and also made me realize that being more efficient with my time allows for opportunities like this. In addition, reading the article about how much being outside and in nature can help with mental health motivates me and it will possibly make it a more permanent lifestyle choice. While the article does touch this as a nice alternative to meditation I see myself possibly incorporating both into my life and having the meditation be a short way to clear my mind while longer hikes are great for reflecting on your day or current life situation. The one time challenge I chose for this week was exploring a hike in the area. On Saturday morning I was able to go on a local hike and it was just fantastic. In past years I would try to hike at least couple times a month but be in suburban Chicago for quarantine it made it tough and being back out in Lewisburg rekindled that love and something I definitely wish to do more of. At the start of this I thought these challenges would be something I would do for the duration of the exercise and I might pick up one or two permanently but I’ve definitely come around to the activities I’ve chosen and could see myself adopting these as lifestyle changes. The four challenges I have so far (drive less, shorter showers, walk and meditation) I really don’t see any major barriers to adapt personally, except maybe time which I talked about earlier but even that I’ve managed it more but in the coming weeks I might adapt some challenges that really challenge my lifestyle and see how they go.

The Eco challenge so far overall has been a rewarding experience that I have enjoyed. The first two weeks I tried to do a mix of some lifestyle additions along with simple tasks that help reduce my impact on the earth. The daily challenges of meditation and driving less have both benefited me a lot. I have been meditating every morning and it is a great way to start my day and really get my head in the right space. It can be a bit challenging since it is for five minutes and I feel at times that it drags on for a little bit but as the days go on it becomes easier. In terms of driving less this was a decent shift for me. While I do try to walk when possible I’ve never made a conscious effort to do so and even driving to placing like LC I remind myself that it really isn’t that far of a walk. The hardest part about the driving less is just feeling as if I am not being the most efficient with my time and the want to just go out run my errand as quickly as possible and drive back. The shift has been rewarding though and I do find myself spending a lot more time outside which is nice. For my one time challenge I chose to research local green energy. The most surprising thing was learning that Evangelical Hospital uses a biomass co-generation plant to heat the building along with aid in other processes. This was fun to read about and learn how right down the street local operations are trying to make a difference by reducing their usage of traditional fossil fuels. 

The two challenges this week the main barrier I see from adapting these permanently is time. Meditation is a great activity but especially if I were to want to expand beyond the five minutes it could take of a sizeable chunk of my mornings which is possible but would require adjustments to my habits. The driving less is in a similar boat. Realistically anything within a 5 to even 10-minute drive is walk-able but could take up to 30-45 minutes round trip and especially in college I just do not feel as if I have that time. Also, it does not help that I do not own or have ridden a bike since I was 16. 

I would say that these two-lifestyle change are definitely doable but require some more time management and potentially owning a bike. Especially since Lewisburg while walker friendly in the immediate neighborhood going beyond 15 is a bit of a hike and may require a bike. Adding in meditation everyday is definitely doable and something I may explore doing at other times of day for longer periods of time.