I'll start off this post by saying something I didn't think I would say, even a month in: It's not that hard. Now obviously this is my personal opinion, but for someone who though they had a serious shopping addiction (you know thousands of dollars in debt, over flowing closets with nothing to wear, constantly looking for something new) It has not been that hard to stop shopping. GRANTED I'm not in NYC, I haven't needed to do serious shopping for the show, I haven't really been in a mall since then either. Well actually I have to do some show returns but at that point I despised being there so much it didn't matter.
I've been documenting anything I buy that isn't food related, so far it's been silicone sponges (which i guess is food related but whatever), a new planner for this year (That I SWEAR I will use ALL year...), a pair of yellow tinted glasses for when I spend entire shows staring at my computer (they help when I remember to wear them, I just put them on), and a Christmas gift exchange, because I was incapable of buying a phone case for my assistants new phone so I just got myself a necklace instead. I'm seriously considering buying a new travel humidifier because these hotels are DRY and I'm only mildly dying (waking up in the middle of then night to apply a thick layer of lotion to my entire body so I don't shrivel into Cassandra from Doctor Who).
Overall, so far, I feel like I have more freedom to actually do the things I want, which lately had just been a lot of knitting and netflix, but also focusing on what I want to do. I went to a few museums when I was in DC (the few that weren't closed because of the shut down). I didn't even feel any remorse about not purchasing anything from the gift shop. Flat out no desire at all. I've been thoroughly thinking purchases through and haven't felt the desire for an impulse purchase yet. The hardest thing so far, and this is absolutely ridiculous, is that I was painting my nails black and my nail polish started going bad. So naturally I texted my assistant saying "I don't think I can wait a whole year before buying more black nail polish." Then I realized that's ridiculous I can live without black nail polish for a year, or I can get a goddamn manicure because black nail polish goes bad frequently.
This experiment/ challenge really has been refocusing my attention to the things that really make me happy. I'm not 100% there yet but I'm definitely on that path.
The true test of this will be when I go home in March and, hopefully, have time to start cleaning out my room of all of the clutter and boxes I've been sending home, and clothes I don't wear, and the shoe box of nail polish I have accumulated in my life.
Thank you for reading this, and I hope to keep you all (Pierce and my mom), updated a little more frequently than once a month. I'm sure temptation will come soon and I will post about that as it happens.
