How to Make Small Changes For Good

This week, I skedaddled around our office to find out what The Love of Grace girls hope to achieve this year, and came up with a list of resolutions we thought we would pass on to our readers, in hopes that you can get on board! 

SWAP PARTY

We are adding Swap Parties to our workplace fun days. Bring a bag of clothing or home items, a homemade cake or 10, a few beverages, and have yourself a merry little swap party. Your colleagues will love their new clothes and they will feel brand new, all whilst giving the environment a high-five.

BE KIND, HAVE COURAGE

We are taking notes from Cinderella here, which sounds a bit 1950, but she really was a heroine who said no to Nasty, in the kindest way possible. We are promising that before we speak, we will come from a place of kindness and our actions will follow through. Not only that, we will have the courage to take on every opportunity that comes our way.

THE PAPERBACK IS BACK

We already have a book swap library in our lunch room where we exchange our books. But you can never read too many, right? We will be switching screen time for more paperbacks this year.

BUY WELL

We have each made a personal commitment to only making sustainable purchases. Within this, we will be op shopping (hello vintage linen dress!) as well as investing in long-lasting items from sustainable brands. We invest in ethical fashion because our dollar is our vote to create change in mainstream fashion and we want our garments to last a lifetime. We also like owning something that is a little bit unique! Right now we are dreaming of the Aglaia Silk Pencil Wrap Skirt, because it ticks all the boxes. 

HANDS ON

At The Love of Grace, we are pretty nifty with our hands – we can pattern-make and sew a garment from scratch! But this year, we will be adding to our list of creative skills. Some of our team members are attending pottery classes, enrolling in shoe-making courses or taking shibori lessons. There are so many great workshops out there. Try Heartfill or The Craft Parlour on the Gold Coast, or Paint N Sip on the GC and Brisbane. We also love Work Shop who have now expanded from Sydney to Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide!

SUBSCRIBE TO NEWS

We will be reading all the things. The New York Times, Eco Cult, The Guardian, World Threads, The Green Hub, Eco Warrior Princess, Clare Press, UN Environment are all excellent ways of staying in the know. They not only cover ethical fashion, but a wide range of topics to educate us on current issues that aren’t covered in mass media. For life-changing journalism, you’ll want to be following them too. We once read somewhere, “If you think that the economy is more important than the environment, try holding your breath while counting your money.” See! Life-Changing. 

SIGN UP

So technically we won’t be scribbling any signatures, but we will be adding our name to digital legislation petitions. If it brings about positive change, we’re on board. Change.org is a great place to start. 

SELF LOVE

Being more health-conscious was naturally going to be on our list, since cake and chocolate have been staples in our workplace. To expand on this, we are taking more time for ourselves to exercise or relax. If you’re a parent, friend, sibling or child (all of you), then you know the drill – you care for those around you more than yourself. This year we plan to invest in ourselves for an hour each day.

BREAK IT DOWN

An annual goal seems SO ENORMOUS! In January, we usually decide we are going to be superhuman, then by Jan 14 we fall off the wagon and become human again. Instead, we will be making monthly goals so we are not committed to 12 months of an entire life edit. Watch the butterflies of anxiety float away and tick off the mini goals one at a time.

GOOD VIBES

This year we want to take a moment to breathe before reacting – less emotion, more logic. To support this, meditating, yoga and walking are all on our agenda. Changing our instant thought processes from negative to positive is a tricky thing to do given that it’s an evolutionary survival technique, but with practice we are retraining the brain to see that the cup is always half full. 

Photography and styling by Alisa Koz