Tuesday, January 21, 2014

What I learned from my 2009 New Year's resolution

My 2009 New Year's resolution was "shut up and buy it".

I did this because in the year or so leading up to my making that resolution, I found myself wanting various things that were significantly more expensive than I was accustomed to spending, and this wanting kept sitting in my brain and yelling at me.  I felt so guilty and conflicted about it - I can't just spend money!  Then I'm going to want to keep spending money! - but it kept sitting there in my brain nagging me.  So I decided that for a year I'd permit myself to buy whatever I wanted as long as I didn't have to go into debt or tap into my condo fund, and I'd use it as a learning experience.  If it started to hurt or I regretted it, then that's where the dividing line is.  If buying things didn't make me satisfied and instead just upgraded my wants, then I'd learn that that's how I operate.  In any case, instead of sitting there feeling deprived and guilty, I'd be doing something about it.

That was three years ago, and I didn't end up stopping the "shut up and buy it" at the end of the year.  But, I just realized, my wants didn't upgrade.  I bought the things I was wanting at the beginning of the year, they made me feel happy, and no new wants came in to replace them.

This did still increase my ongoing spending.  One of the things I wanted was better hair, and now I spent far more than I care to admit on natural shampoo and conditioner that achieve significantly better results than what you get at the drugstore. I started wearing more expensive bras (to fantastic effect!), and, while they don't need to be replaced quite as often as hair products, they still do need to be replaced from time to time.

But I bought the things I was originally wishing for when I started my resolution, and then didn't feel the need to buy any other things that I didn't have in mind going in.  I didn't get caught up in some endless treadmill of materialism, it turned out I just wanted some nicer things.

Which supports my ongoing theses that I know my shit better than I think I do and I can buy happiness.

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