lovely photo by mrs. french (of course ;-)After subjecting you to my attempts to take a hiatus from mindless, non-essential purchases for three months, I figured you deserved a little bit of closure. (Or, maybe it’s me that needs some closure, so bear with a long post...)
I’ve been thinking about how to adequately sum up my experience, and all I can come up with is that it was one of my very. best. experiences. Seriously. Ok, I know that seems dramatic (and somewhat unbelievable)… How, you ask, can “not shopping” for a few months be a person’s very best experience? What kind of sad, boring life do I have? Here’s how: not shopping, not thinking about shopping, not planning to shop, etc… left loads time for me to do all the things that I previously thought I didn’t have time to do… things like cooking and reading and taking a sewing class, like going to museums, taking more photos, making weekly trips to the library, doing more projects with the girlies.
Not shopping also made me appreciate what I already have in a more heightened way. I made new outfits with existing pieces in my closet, discovered things in drawers and cabinets that had been tucked away un-used… When I did cheat, like on Audrey’s little blue dress, the treats in Marfa, the bikes (we love our new bikes!), I cherished them in ways I didn’t even think possible… And now, almost three weeks post-hiatus, I am completely in love with this “new life” of ours.
And as with most things in life, now that I can shop I don’t want too, which makes things pretty easy for now… I’m not sure how long this virtuousness will last though, so I’ve been thinking of what “checks” I can institute to ensure I don’t revert to my old ways. I firmly believe most of my success during the actual hiatus wasn’t due to my super-human will-power (trust me friends, I’m weak…) No, it was because every week I knew I had to be accountable to you… That’s the whole purpose of a support group, no?
So I was thinking I’d replace my Monday hiatus post with a “what I bought this week” post. My thinking here is that this will help me be mindful about the non-essential things I buy moving forward if I’m forced to tell you about them…
So what do you think? Are you sick of hearing about this?
And while we’re asking questions, how are my support group folks feeling now that you’re all done? I know some of you like Miss Aimee and Paula are continuing the hiatus; I know that Rachel’s first post-hiatus purchase was a lovely glass straw…
How about the rest of you... What's life like post-hiatus?
I’ve been thinking about how to adequately sum up my experience, and all I can come up with is that it was one of my very. best. experiences. Seriously. Ok, I know that seems dramatic (and somewhat unbelievable)… How, you ask, can “not shopping” for a few months be a person’s very best experience? What kind of sad, boring life do I have? Here’s how: not shopping, not thinking about shopping, not planning to shop, etc… left loads time for me to do all the things that I previously thought I didn’t have time to do… things like cooking and reading and taking a sewing class, like going to museums, taking more photos, making weekly trips to the library, doing more projects with the girlies.
Not shopping also made me appreciate what I already have in a more heightened way. I made new outfits with existing pieces in my closet, discovered things in drawers and cabinets that had been tucked away un-used… When I did cheat, like on Audrey’s little blue dress, the treats in Marfa, the bikes (we love our new bikes!), I cherished them in ways I didn’t even think possible… And now, almost three weeks post-hiatus, I am completely in love with this “new life” of ours.
And as with most things in life, now that I can shop I don’t want too, which makes things pretty easy for now… I’m not sure how long this virtuousness will last though, so I’ve been thinking of what “checks” I can institute to ensure I don’t revert to my old ways. I firmly believe most of my success during the actual hiatus wasn’t due to my super-human will-power (trust me friends, I’m weak…) No, it was because every week I knew I had to be accountable to you… That’s the whole purpose of a support group, no?
So I was thinking I’d replace my Monday hiatus post with a “what I bought this week” post. My thinking here is that this will help me be mindful about the non-essential things I buy moving forward if I’m forced to tell you about them…
So what do you think? Are you sick of hearing about this?
And while we’re asking questions, how are my support group folks feeling now that you’re all done? I know some of you like Miss Aimee and Paula are continuing the hiatus; I know that Rachel’s first post-hiatus purchase was a lovely glass straw…
How about the rest of you... What's life like post-hiatus?
