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What a Year of No Shopping Taught Me About Happiness
It changed my life
At the beginning of 2019, I became curious about attachment to things as a source of finding true happiness.
By things, I mean material items, people, jobs, and opportunities.
How often have you walked past an article of clothing in a shop window and thought, “Ooh, I need to buy that!” because you know it will make you feel good?
It is also very common to believe that when we meet that special person and fall in love, that will bring us happiness, or if we win that dream job, buy the car, and fill our lives with people, they will fulfill us.
In 2019, I decided to challenge my definition of happiness and my attachment to things to see what would happen.
So, at the beginning of the year, I declared that I would not buy any new, non-essential items for the remainder of the year. This meant clothes, shoes, household items, and so on. I created a rule that if I really wanted or needed any of those items, they had to be sourced from thrift shops.
I have never considered myself overly materialistic, but I was not prepared for the initial resistance that came up in me.
The first time I denied myself a new item of clothing, panic set in.
