How To: Be a Better Earthling

So lately I’ve been feeling a little more Adult than Almost Adult. I bought a house, I have a CAREER rather than a job, and life seems to be moving in an Adult-ish direction. I could not be more thrilled about it. It’s hard for me to determine the “best” part of my life right now, which is an amazing feeling. I’m writing and designing, have a job that I love, working on my house, and watching my puppy grow into an Almost Adult dog. He trips way less often now.

Maybe this just comes with the territory of being mid-twenties instead of recent grad, but life is just good all the way around. This past week I got a nice little reminder of why I wanted to major in Public Relations and why I am so happy to be back in this field. I, once again, have an opportunity to make a difference, outside of giving insightful, yet funny, advice to Almost Adults. 

There is nothing quite like the feeling of bringing a smile to someone else’s face. Whether it was from my obnoxiously-perky-at-6:30-in-the-morning self, the bass beats playing behind me, or from the idea of doing something good for the world, there were lots of smiles on little faces at Kramer Elementary School here in Dallas this past Friday. I was assigned to help out with the City of Dallas’ Cease the Grease campaign this past week and was at an Earth Day celebration hosted by one of the teachers at Kramer.

Every time I say that word I picture this and start saying things like "El Paso, I spent a month there one night." He never gets old. And his hair has so much movement, geez.

It was inspiring to see these kids not only participate in Earth Day events but to understand why we were having events like this Cease the Grease campaign. Rodolfo even carried in a jug that was practically bigger than he was – cutest kindergartener I’ve ever seen. 

Kramer, (yep, still picturing the slide entrance) and many other schools throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area, are starting to participate in programs other than just Cease the Grease to inspire children to be good Earthlings. Programs like REAL School Gardens are teaching kids in underprivileged schools all about the importance of living a healthy lifestyle and being environmentally responsible. 

That afternoon I went back to the office with “The Grease Monster won’t like this song” stuck in my head. It's quite the catchy tune – and I had to listen to it roughly 82 times… but who’s counting. Maybe I should do the Kramer entrance into my co-workers office and start rapping the song just to break up the day a little. Later, I started thinking about what I could do to be a better person. Seems to me that if a kindergartener can be working harder on recycling, planting, and being good to our Earth, so can a 20-Something.

1. Pick a non-profit organization you feel strongly about and are ready to contribute to. There are tons of organizations dedicated to different kinds of issues, surely you can find one that hits close to home.
2. All non-profits welcome volunteers. Find an organization you’re thinking might be fun to participate in and sign up. If planting flowers and having deep conversations about cartoons with 6-year-olds is your idea of fun, check out REAL School Gardens volunteer page.
3. You don't have to be a tree hugger to recycle. Check out RecyclingCenters.org for a list of things that are easily recyclable and start doing your part.
4. Don't just recycle, UPcycle! Go read last week's post and reinvent something you would have gotten rid of.
5. Want to make yourself a better person WHILE making a difference? Check out Team in Training. Their program helps you lose weight, get healthy AND raise money for cancer research all at the same time. 
6. Check with your company to see if they actively participate in any organizations that would be beneficial to your company. If not, suggest one that would tie in with your line of work. It never hurts to look good from a boss's perspective.
7. If none of this sounds appealing to you, you can always donate money instead of time. Every dollar makes a difference to lots of organizations.

Even if its just imitating Kramer every time you walk through a door, go out of your way to make someone else's day better. I guarantee you won't regret it. Unless your slide turns into a face plant. That would be unfortunate.