I am in the 11th month of my shopping fast. It has been such a positive experience for me. That’s not to say there haven’t been things I’ve missed buying! There certainly have been, and I have chronicled those things here in this this blog. Socks, right now I am wishing for new socks! Also my elastic supply is getting a little low and I am nervous. It's down to a few standard black and browns, but then I am left with the colorful and bedazzled ones from when my girls were a bit younger - you may see me sporting one of these if I can't keep track of the others for the next 4 or 5 weeks!
The habit of learning I have enough has spilled over in to a lot of other areas of my life beyond just things. We host my family for Thanksgiving every year. 4 sisters, 4 nieces, 3 nephews, 2 parents one brother-in-law and us makes 18. Somehow no matter how many we add to that number we always end up with way too much food. This year I felt like I wanted to do better – waste less. Make enough food as opposed to too much. So, when I went to plan the menu I resisted the urge to make an extra appetizer. I didn’t google delicious veggie sides or unique Thanksgiving desserts to add to those my family would be bringing because I knew theirs would be enough. Honestly it was hard, somehow it feels like I should have more than I need on Thanksgiving, like that’s the goal, but I tried to plan for enough instead of too much. It turns out I am bad at it and we still ended up with way too much and I am still eating the leftover pie I made (which is quite good). The choice to try for sufficiency over extravagance was important for me though especially as we head into the Christmas season. I hope to maintain that mindset as I plan other gatherings, consider what gifts to buy and fill (or try not to fill) my schedule with holiday activities – more is not always better.
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