If you’re feeling the pressure from work colleagues or family to tread the mill and bring home more bacon than you care to shake a stick at, don’t worry, you’re not alone.

There’s an abominable pressure thrust at us from almost every angle of the visual and audible media, telling us that consuming is good and the only way to sustain the spend up lifestyle is by working your trotters off.

Consumption is necessary for society to remain upright and to continue to function well, so many say, but ‘I’ say, that our consumption would do well to be looked at, re-evaluated in every sense of the word and changed if we are to survive as a global economy filled with more sustainable communities, which in my view, holds the key to the success of us all.

But bucking the trend is hard and can be terrifying when we’re surrounded by souls that simply don’t get the urgent need for change.

I was taken aback today by a delightful comment received by one of my readers, who stated, ‘From the belly of the beast, the homeland of the Corporate Empire… please know your hard work is much appreciated; your encouragement is much needed – many thanks’…

This spoke to me in volumes and I simply needed to share it with you.

One of the most challenging things to overcome when you want to step back from uber-consumerism, comes through the voices of those around us, those whom we love and respect too. It is hard to react positively towards their snipes at times and seemingly impossible to get them to come around to ‘our’ way of thinking.

Don’t despair.  Stay with the programme.  Continue to wear your downshifting hat with pride and take comfort in knowing you are part of a worldwide movement who ‘does’ get it.

My little awareness campaign has attracted comments from the well heeled and those living off grid and every one in between and they all say how inspirational and encouraging it is to find a hook to hang ‘their crazy ideas on’…their ideas are not so crazy at all, particularly when they realise there are lots of others who feel exactly the same way.

So, onwards and upwards my fellow downshifters!

Carry on being the light and shine your positive candle for a simpler, happier, greener and more sustainable existence…those in the dark need to see it more than ever.