I broke my promise and found my voice

If you are an avid reader of this blog you would remember the promise I made with Promise or Pay for Plastic Free July. Well, I broke the promise.


For those new, this is the backstory: I partnered with Promise or Pay for the Plastic Free July challenge. The goal of Promise or Pay is to help encourage people who want to achieve a goal by putting money down. Participants can make a promise, like giving up plastic for July, then put money down as an incentive to stick to the goal. If you break your promise, the money goes to a charity (in this case it went to the Two Hands Project). If you succeed and keep your promise, the money stays in your pocket. There is an option for family and friends to donate money that will go to the charity if you keep your promise.

Here is the original post. 

Seeing how I already lived a plastic free life I decided to make a different promise – convince a local café to move their plastic straws behind the counter. If anyone needed one they simply asked. I gave myself 35 days, put $100 down and managed to get a couple donations.

I pick up alot of straws on my litter pick ups. The thing is they are needed by some people and that's OK, so I don't want them banned. I just wanted able bodied people to think twice before reaching for one. Some people reach for them out of necessity while others do it by habit. 

When I made the promise the café I wanted to approach had already been decided. It is a short walk from my house, the usual place we feel like having a weekend breakfast outing. Besides the close proximity and yummy food, their stance on cooking with as much local and seasonal food makes me smile. Plus they sell reusable coffee cups

With 35 days, easy walk plus being a sustainably minded café, how did I end up breaking my promise?

Simply for the same reason I made the promise in the beginning.

Fear.

My true intention for making the promise was to push myself out of my comfort zone. I have made the necessary changes in my life to live with less plastic and create less rubbish. Now it’s time for me to take what I know and share it not just on my blog but beyond. I have mentioned before that I want to become more active in my community and educate others about living with less plastic and trash. The promise was part of the step.

While I had 35 days, I was overseas for 21 of those. So I had 14 days - two weeks! I left it until the second last day of the promise to approach them. I kept putting it off, making up excuses. I was afraid of being laughed at, rejected or just made to feel stupid. It never crossed my mind that they would be receptive. I let my fear get the better of me.
 
As I walked up to the door I saw a group of teenage girls sipping coffee. I felt that pang of fear again. Would they hear my conversation with the café and laugh?

The café door opened, I approached the counter and asked for the manager. They were not in and would be back later in the week. I then the waiter was so kind and listened to my hasty spiel. They took my list of suggestions promising the manager would be delighted to read them.

As I walked home listening to the train rattle past and planes flying overhead I felt something shift. Yes I had broken my promise, but I conquered my fear. My promise was not just about the plastic straws it was about me finding a voice. I was always scared of sounding like I was preaching, being annoying or just made to feel useless.

A couple of days later I was scrolling through my newsfeed and saw that the café had signed up to be a Responsible Café from my suggestion.

As for the straws? I checked in last week and the plastic ones are behind the counter and only hand out if people ask. 

I have not had time to contact other cafes yet but I am going to, because I had nothing to be worried about. If people knock me back, big deal, I will just go to another café.

If you are like me, a bit of an introvert and shy, don’t listen to those naysayer voices in your head stopping you from speaking up. Leave a note, have a word when it’s quite (they are busy working after all) or drop the establishment an email. You’re an important voice in your community and you can be an agent of change.

Thank you Promise or Pay for helping me find my voice.

10 comments:

  1. What a great post!
    I find it hard to talk about my values and choises to others, sometimes afraid of being pushy. But when it happens, I find that most people want to be pushed - gently and "sweetly"
    /johanne

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    1. I 100% understand - I don't want to see feel like a burden or make someone feel bad. Everyone is generally receptive when I do tell them.

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  2. Wow, this story totally makes my day. Congratulations with this achievement! Well done!
    I too would like to do more to raise awareness about the problem of plastic off-line. Key issue here is lack of time. Please keep us posted about your next off-line adventure!

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    1. Awww thanks!!! Yes, If i could do this as a living I would...just not sure how to do that. I will be talking more about my off line adventures.

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  3. That's fantastic! Well done. You've inspired me to think about where I can spread the message 'offline' - as well as (always) reminding me I can always do better in my non-zero-plastic home.

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    1. You can totally work some offline messages into your workshops.

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  4. Fabulous! I think sometimes the need for change has occurred to organisations but they just get too 'busy' to focus on it. You've shown it may just take a little nudge for change to happen. Yay! Great news :-)

    Madeleine.x

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    1. You are right - and many of this cafes or restaurants are small establishments that are busy trying to earn a living. Thanks for the support :)

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  5. This is so inspiring!! It can be so scary to talk to people to try an convince them to see things on your side. I'm a professional actor, my job is to daily invite 100's sometimes 1000's of people into my story, but doing it in real life rather than stage life is so hard!

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    1. Perhaps I should take on a character when I talk to people? Maybe that would help beat the nerves.

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