One small step out of the shower..

one big step for our community.

Without trying to get too sappy, reading posts of peers who are concentrating on shortening their shower time gives me a lot of relief. A) That I was not being psycho about my shower habits as well, and b) that behavior changes come in many forms. Personally, I do not care for scorching showers, so I originally did not think of lowering my shower temperature. Recognizing heat as the main root of the problem, or at least something to personally change, is something I may consider for the future of my changed behavior. During the summer I can imagine this goal being a lot more attainable. In the winter, a hot shower is an easy and reasonable way to warm up while during the summer adjusting body temperature is the opposite.

I knew I was not alone yet in my shorter showering efforts but I was surrounded by the enemy—the overindulgent shower takers. I could not help but notice when my room mate, others on my floor and team mates took excessive and unnecessary amounts of time in the shower. These minutes I considered precious and some of my peers did not think twice about. Receiving feedback on my achievements was great positive reinforcement to continue my sustainable behavior while other peers do not see as much sense in continuing it. For the future I want to attempt to breakdown my shower and measure it in minutes to see where I can shave off time. Many of my peers made efforts to systematically cut down on the shower time by percentage. I think this is a valuable method for structuring my future showers.

Looking forward… If I was cutting down on shower time, why not do some more good for the environment? I will take the time to look for the recycling bin and I will consider a vegetarian option over meat occasionally. I thought that maybe I was alone in these gradual but reoccurring changes. Looking at the community beyond my specific SBC, I saw I was not the only one.