Are Shorter Showers Even Possible For Me?

Going into this challenge, my first thought was that this would be easy. A shower can’t be that hard to shorten right? Well, after just observing and actually paying attention to how long I spend in the shower and relax, I now realize this challenge is going to be much harder than I thought. On the first day of observation, I woke up a lot more tired than I usually am because I didn’t get much sleep due to studying for an exam. How did I compensate for this? I took a long, warm shower to try to wake up and relax to deal with the stress I was dealing with. If it wasn’t bad enough that I was wasting large amounts of water, I need to think about the energy loss through heat. I had the water almost all the way up, so I need to add in this loss of energy when I think about my total effect on the environment as a result of my long showers.

Then I got thinking about if I really can’t go without taking long showers and if there are any alternatives to this. For a while, I couldn’t think of anything that would allow me to still take my long warm showers without the same negative effect on the environment. Then, I read an article called  “19 ways to Greener Water Habits” by Tom Chasm. One of these habits really caught my eye. One of these ways was using a bucket to collect runoff water that is going to go in the drain. With this water, it could be used to water plants. While I think this might be a helpful thing to do, when I’m tired I’m not sure if I will have the will to go to the store to buy a bucket,  actually use it, and then water plants. Not that this isn’t a bad idea, I just don’t know if it’s realistic for me. 

In the next week, I’ll have to do my best to think of alternatives and shorten the amount of time I’m in the shower.