The story of Natália
April 2019
"If someone in the past would have asked me what makes me happy, I would have certainly replied that doing something that is essentially materialistic is the source of my joy. What I mean is that I used to be the type of person who would have get happy when engaging in simple activities such as shopping. Once you have such an impulse in you that buying new things can give you happiness, you start searching for that feeling over and over again. You do more and more shopping; seeking more happiness, almost to the point of greediness, just to experience that feeling once again. Only after a time, you will realize that this cycle creates more sadness than joy. Today, the source of my happiness is something different, to the point of being the complete opposite. At a certain point, I became determined to say “no” to the consumer lifestyle. At the beginning of this change, I had the impression that no one cared about the impact that our senseless purchases have on the environment or, on the lives of the people who produce them. But what makes me happy today, you might ask? The thought that I am not alone in this struggle. I am beginning to understand that there are many more of us; young people who see their future differently from tragic scenarios caused by not intervening in natural environmental developments that lead to disaster. It makes me happy when I see how many people take the initiative into their own hands and start the change with themselves. It makes me happy that we have hope. It makes me happy that we believe and are convinced that we can change the world for the better, by small changes everyday. Because the truth is, we can."
