Yesterday was my birthday.
31.
After this last year, it is such a relief. I am ready to leave 30 behind. It was an extremely transformative year, but it was also extremely difficult. I am looking to the future with brightness and hope.
Yesterday also marked the end of my "Nothing New" project.
This is where it all started. The desire to investigate that compulsion to spend. Why we "need" all the things we have. Why we continue to encourage the production and consumption of junk.
Initially, my response was interesting. I went into the Gap with one of my friends last summer, and had this crazy reaction, this desire to have everything. To buy everything...probably because I knew I couldn't. I had the same reaction in Anthropologie not long after...this intense longing, and frustration that I couldn't just buy what I wanted. And then, when I was Christmas shopping (yes, I did buy a couple new, necessary items like snow boots), I kept wandering around, waiting for things to jump at me. They never did. I had this comforting feeling that I had everything I needed and wanted. That feeling hasn't left.
Granted, I did make a few exceptions throughout the year.
Shoes and dress for a wedding.
New sandals.
Snow boots.
A knit skirt, because I knew I'd never find it at goodwill.
A curling iron.
My purchases are more conscious. Before I was going to go shopping for a new dress for my tea party, I looked in my closet. Luckily, one of my favorite dresses fit me again and I didn't have to go shopping! I try to borrow things before buying them. I look for used. I love love love Goodwill, Buffalo Exchange, and thrift stores.
And while my initial impulse at the end of this project was to go celebrate by treating myself to something, that quickly subsided.
31.
After this last year, it is such a relief. I am ready to leave 30 behind. It was an extremely transformative year, but it was also extremely difficult. I am looking to the future with brightness and hope.
Yesterday also marked the end of my "Nothing New" project.
This is where it all started. The desire to investigate that compulsion to spend. Why we "need" all the things we have. Why we continue to encourage the production and consumption of junk.
Initially, my response was interesting. I went into the Gap with one of my friends last summer, and had this crazy reaction, this desire to have everything. To buy everything...probably because I knew I couldn't. I had the same reaction in Anthropologie not long after...this intense longing, and frustration that I couldn't just buy what I wanted. And then, when I was Christmas shopping (yes, I did buy a couple new, necessary items like snow boots), I kept wandering around, waiting for things to jump at me. They never did. I had this comforting feeling that I had everything I needed and wanted. That feeling hasn't left.
Granted, I did make a few exceptions throughout the year.
Shoes and dress for a wedding.
New sandals.
Snow boots.
A knit skirt, because I knew I'd never find it at goodwill.
A curling iron.
My purchases are more conscious. Before I was going to go shopping for a new dress for my tea party, I looked in my closet. Luckily, one of my favorite dresses fit me again and I didn't have to go shopping! I try to borrow things before buying them. I look for used. I love love love Goodwill, Buffalo Exchange, and thrift stores.
And while my initial impulse at the end of this project was to go celebrate by treating myself to something, that quickly subsided.
I've just written an essay as part of my degree on this subject. It's an interesting one to explore, I found the Philosopher Jean Baudrillard's views on the subject of perceived value very interesting.
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