Un-Toxifying My Life
- Caroline Lanier
- May 5
- 5 min read
I have known for a really long time that there are toxic things in my life that I have not gotten rid of. Some of those are visual: my lack of regular exercise, my indulgence in junk food because of convenience, my lack of self-discipline when it comes to my sleep schedule. Meanwhile, some of the toxic things in my life are not so visual: my addiction to social media, the anger I carry for members of my close family, my lack of reading leading to a deterioration of my reading comprehension & vocabulary. These lists could carry on & on. I could write pages and pages on what I'm doing wrong in my life. I could detail the negative effects these toxic actions have on my life. But that would just lead to another toxic action I partake in every so often: self-deprecation and self-loathing.
Throughout the first 4 months of 2025, I have tried to keep up with my bingo cards. I made a bingo card for the year & one for almost every month (sorry, February, I forgot about you). I have not gotten a single Bingo. I have not stayed in line with a single goal I have set for myself. I have not been able to reward myself for a single good thing I have wanted to accomplish this year. This leads to that nasty toxic action I mentioned before: self-deprecation and self-loathing. I want to change that.
For the next 90 days, I want to go on a journey I am calling "Un-Toxifying My Life." This will be a way for me to leave the bad & keep the good. Before, I would have committed to the rest of the year, but I know I wouldn't make it that far because of the daunting timeline. But 90 days feels more doable. I will start today, Monday, May 5, 2025, and go until Sunday, August 3, 2025. Here are my goals:
Clean my wardrobe
Clean my media consumption
Clean my inventory/materials
Refocus my intentionality on my body & physical health
You may be asking, "What do you mean by all of this?" And to tell you the truth, I'm not entirely sure yet. But I do have some answers. I'm expecting God to fill in the other answers later when He deems it time.
Clean Out My Wardrobe
I want to start by eliminating all non-natural fibers from my wardrobe. This will be difficult, as anything that stretches most likely has some form of microplastics embedded in the fabrics. My end goal would be 0% non-natural fibers, but for this feat, I will settle for around 15%. This means I will be getting rid of a lot of clothes, shoes, underwear, undergarments, and much more.
Polyester, for example, has been shown to increase skin irritation, prevent natural air flow from occurring, and repel water (sweat stays on your skin, leading to clogged pores and acne flare-ups). This isn't good for the areas of your body that get the sweatiest, especially your no-no square.
This means no satin that isn't made from silk, no polyester, no rayon, no nylon, no elastic, and no fun, apparently! I'm kidding, there's a lot of fun in taking care of your body and preparing it for the future.
Clean Up My Media Consumption
This is one of those thing I do in private that affects every public part of my life. Music has such a profound affect on our psyches, which can be positive or negative. Music can be used to lift up the name of God and give Him glory, or it can be used as an instrument of satan to tear us down, tear others down, or to go against the name of God. Satan has been understood to be the leader of music when he was in Heaven, so his time on earth after his banishment from God's kingdom has been spent leading others astray from God, with one of his techniques being through the music we listen to & the words we sing.
In this journey, I want to take accountability for what I am listening to and see what is truly bringing glory to God or leading me or others around me to sin. There are many artists publicly involved with witchcraft practices, whether it be them directly practicing or the people around them practicing & influencing them. Either way, this is not what the Lord wants me to consume.
Cleaning up my media consumption also includes the shows and movies I watch, the amount of doom-scrolling I partake in daily, and the podcasts I listen to. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” and that is what I am determined to do.
Clean Out My Inventory/Materials
As an artist who recycles & reworks all of her materials, I have accumulated a lot of non-natural fibers. A lot of these non-natural fibers & materials have ended up on sweatshirts & bags that I have patchworked. The unused/unsold materials sit in my room and invade my airways, like a prowling lion.
Fortunately, I began looking for 100% cotton materials and materials with other 100% natural fiber contents, so many of my blanks & bases that I currently have are at least 90% cotton or 100% linen.
But that's not enough. I have such an abundance of scraps that are 100% polyester, which is not the direction I ever want to lean. So I have 2 options: finish all of my non-natural fiber materials and only buy natural fibers in the future, OR get rid of all of my non-natural fiber materials and buy everything new. The second-option would mean I lose money, and as a broke college student, that's not something I'm willing to do. So in this sector of Un-Toxifying My Life, I will be using everything up and not buying new non-natural fibers.
This also means that I need to sell the items I have that aren't 100% natural fibers to remove them from my own space. Currently, all of my sewn ready-to-ship items contain less than 20% of non-natural fibers, while most of my crocheted items utilize more than 80% of acrylic yarn or 100% plastic from plastic bags. I hope to sell at many markets over the summer & integrate more and more natural fibers as time goes on.
Refocus My Intentionality on My Body & Physical Health
In high school, I loved the gym. I would go with friends or even go on my own. When I'm at home, I take my dog on walks as much as I can. I was more active. I was stronger. I was more healthy. And since I've come to college, I stay sedentary more often.
One of my biggest kryptonites when it comes to food that affects my choosing healthy food over fast food are the rewards apps for different restaurants when I can rack up points and redeem them for free food. Since coming to college, it's been so much easier to get a meal that someone else made for me than to cook at my dorm. This means I've been eating more fried food and eating less vegetables.
For this journey, I want to be outside more, reach all of my rings on my Apple Watch, walk an hour a day, avoid fried foods, and eat more food that comes in it's most bio-available form.
The idea that I will be trying to Un-Toxify My Life is scary, but it's necessary. I'm trusting that God will show me what needs to stay in my life, what needs to go, and where I need to start.
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