Today is officially Day 9 of my No Shopping Month. How’s it going? Pretty well. Sure, there have been some temptations, and there have been some opportunities for purchases that I really wanted to justify as necessary, and heck, I’ll admit that I stopped by the store the other day and bought something. However, the purchased items (Velcro strips and ribbon) have already been used, so they were not just “things to buy”, which is what I’m trying to avoid. I’ve also caved on some junk food, but not nearly as much as I usually do – mainly just a pop once in a while after my lunchtime jog when I feel slightly hypoglycemic…
ML and I were discussing my challenge this morning – what I am really trying to accomplish versus what’s going on in her life – and I think I said it pretty well to her:
“My main focus is to stop focusing on objects as the main goal of my life, which I think has unconsciously always been my prime motivation - I've always been a shopper, and I've let that influence my career decisions and other life choices. If I would have taken the time in high school or even before (or even after) to really figure out what I valued, besides stuff, I would not have taken the path I took – with was the "path to the most money". Granted, I'm happy with a lot of the "consequences" of that path - Lowell, my friends, etc - I'm not thrilled with most of it. I enjoy being busy, but I want to be sure that any experiences I cram in aren't because I think I should or because they will result is me acquiring things. I even questioned the sewing, since it just leads to more stuff. If I start selling the things I make, is that just as bad, since I'd be doing it for profit, not for pleasure?
At this point, I'm going with 'no', 'cause I really do enjoy it. Should I stop enjoying it, I'll probably take a long break from the sewing machine.”
I’m about halfway through Affluenza (and I highly recommend it). It, like all books lately, is taking some time to get through, because of a severe crunch on my free-time. Is this bad? ML seems to think so, as she seems very frustrated by her many extracurriculars eating away at the time she spends on herself, even though she very much enjoys these activities. While I’ll freely admit that this past weekend, when I had no obligations, was a wonderful change of pace, I actually love being busy. I love my activities and have tried to be picky about what I do. This has been especially important since getting married, as for some crazy reason my husband thinks we need to spend time together. J So I’ve tried to pick things I’m really passionate about (belly dance, volunteering) and that can mainly fit around our two schedules – for instance, I have dance practice while he’s at band practice. I read while he watches TV (and sometimes, we read together…gasp!). He drums while I sew. A lot of our entertainment activities (music, plays, races, art shows) can be down together, or I do them solo while he works. It works out pretty well…most of the time.
So, I guess what I’m saying is that in these 9 short days, I’m already starting to clear my head a little about at least one thing that is important to me: activities that I enjoy enough to not mind the amount of time they take…I’ve got a long way to go, but so far, it’s not nearly as unpleasant as I would have thought… J
