Yesterday was Earth Day.  Doesn’t it seem weird that we have to have a day to celebrate the planet?  Shouldn’t that be every day?  Who hasn’t posted a picture of spring flowers on Instagram in the last few weeks?  We all kind of love this place.  I decided to step up my game a little yesterday and appreciate the earth a little bit more.

We read an article this weekend in our April National Geographic about coal and whether or not it will ever be clean.  One of the things that stood out to me was the average daily consumption of coal per person – worldwide it is 6.4 lbs and in the US it is 18 lbs.  You can read the full article here.

I decided to take the day off from electricity yesterday.  Now, I live in an apartment and I left the major appliances alone, but I unplugged everything small and didn’t turn on a light or a TV or even charge my personal phone or laptop yesterday.  Work kicked my butt so it was nice to not have any music on in the background.  I got so much done.  Obviously, I had to keep my work computer charged, but at the end of my long workday, I unplugged the power strip and shut it all down.

To be totally honest, it was super easy.  Trust me, I love TV and cooking things and my Keurig as much as the next person, but I could do this at least once a week.  I found myself just quietly sitting and taking it all in.

My dogs were content.  We had longer walks yesterday and without a laptop on my lap, I was able to cuddle them both at the same time.

Reading is one of my favorite things to do, so an entire evening of reading a few of my current books was incredible.

You could smell the rain outside.  Plus, the candles I had burning in the apartment were Huckleberry scented and that also made me very happy.

I could hear my dogs snoring, the people outside and all the birds.  I heard hysterical parts of conversations as people left the happy hour across the street.  I also was able to hear my phone ringing and caught up with my sister-in-law and one of my best friends from home.

I ate up a ton of fruits and veggies that were in our fridge as well as some yogurt and granola. My dinner was a smoothie and some cold pasta salad.

It was a totally normal day and even though I challenged myself to do this tiny little thing for Earth Day, it didn’t feel like a challenge at all.  It was much more of a relief to have a night off from stuff.

Also, I will say that I didn’t have the stress of watching the Ranger game last night.  But I’m totally stress free this morning because they won, plus I’m drinking coffee.  Hope you all took a minute to appreciate this planet.