In case I ran into anyone wanting to help, I took some extra gloves and bags, but as I pulled into the park and realized there were already many people there, I assumed I wouldn’t need to carry the extras and began picking up trash where I parked, continuing on towards the fence.

By the time I’d reached the fence, I was worn out: I didn’t realize how tiring it was to pick up trash. No wonder no one wanted to help! Moving around in this heat was a little bit different than what I’m used to, and I’d forgotten water but figured I’d only be out there an hour or so. Well, it turns out an hour or so is quite awhile in this weather.

About a third of the way down the fence, I’d started getting light-headed and wanted to be done, but every time I’d wanted to quit, I’d turn back and look at what I’d accomplished, which motivated me to keep going forward. I’m not gonna lie: it was A LOT of work, but it wouldn’t’ve been so bad with more people (hint-hint).

In the end, I almost filled up a 30 gallon trash bag, and as I sought out a trash can that’d hold it, a man came up, thanked me for picking up trash, and gave me a tennis ball he’d found. That made my morning!

Anyway, I’m posting the pictures from when I’d wanted to quit because I thought it was neat how looking back at what I’d done motivated me to move forward in what I needed to do.

Here’s the area beforehand.