Interview
How to live consciously
I had always wanted to start a blog, but being a strong procrastinator I needed some way to keep myself accountable and at the time it made sense to try and do something with my husband Luke. It was around the same time we were taking some courses towards a Global Development that interest in conscious consumerism started to flood in so we decided to start Sutton + Grove as a sort of accountability blog for ourselves to find cool, trendy products that are good and do good for ourselves, and it’s since evolved from there!
Before…
I worked at a children’s non profit in Brooklyn, NY for about 4 1/2 years right before I met Luke and then after Luke and I got married I dabbled in some freelance marketing design and photography for a few years. We moved cities a bit and 6 months before I started my blog I worked as a real estate assistant but quit that job because I was able to start making part time income off of our blog within the first year!
Q: Your blog is your business, right? What are the biggest challenges for running this business?
I would say keeping up with a routine is quite difficult for us currently. We’ve chosen to travel and stay in transition for the past two years (which is basically as long as we’ve been running our blog) so staying on top of everything while always being one foot somewhere else has been a challenge. It’s been a fun challenge and hopefully we’ll be able to settle into a routine after our next big move coming up in a couple months!
Q: How do you achieve work-life balance?
I have to give myself grace quite a bit since my work schedule is very different than a normal 9-5 work week. Working with my husband helps me a lot because when we are working together at home or wherever we can set our day and schedule together and we usually are good and can stick to it. We don’t give ourselves many official days off, but the time we do take we really like to shut off and not go on social media at all and that really helps to keep us connected and balanced.
Q: What would be your advice to someone who wants to start living consciously?
I would say the easiest and simplest answer to HOW TO LIVE CONSCIOUSLY is to start asking yourself questions about the things you do in your everyday life. Do you recycle? Where does the recycling go? Does everything get recycled? Where are my clothes made? From what types of factories? Is my health in check? What is a good everyday exercise routine I can get into that keeps me active? What ingredients are in my body products and cosmetics?
Once you start to uncover some of the truths about these questions you’ll start to realize the power and authority you do have to make good and healthier choices for yourself in the things you do and products you buy, and how impactful your voice and actions are too!
What do you do for encouragement or to be motivated ?
Find daily inspiration on Jill’s instagram @jillematthews