Resolved
Lately, I’ve been in a clearing mode; trying to let go of those items I have that I don’t want or need. I could fill a truck, because I tend to hold and hoard. The psychic baggage all of this stuff represents is, I think, worse than the actual physical space it all takes up. It’s exhausting, frankly, and I’m tired of it.
Yesterday I was cleaning out a basket of magazine clippings and ran across an article about getting free stuff from Real Simple magazine (March, 2007). In it was a sidebar about a lady who went one year without buying anything she did not consider to be a necessity. Over the course of that year, she saved enough to pay off her personal debt of $8000. It got me to thinking, especially at this time of the year when we are bombarded with invitations to spend, acquire, and consume, how much I could save if I did that for a year.
I don’t remember the last time I made a New Year’s Resolution, because inevitably I have, like many, just ended up letting myself down. So, with considerable anxiety and trepidation, I am making just one for this year: to not buy anything that I don’t consider a necessity. (Yeah, I know. "Way to start small!")
I’m going to keep track of how it goes here under a Scratch tag. I think that half of the challenge and interest for me will be to engage in the ongoing considerations of what I think of as a "necessity." Obviously, we all will arrive at different conclusions, as we each use our unique criteria to sort it all out. I ab-so-lutely encourage you to sound off on that stuff, because nothing looks more weird than some chick arguing with herself by the light of the monitor.
I plan to shop for the necessities in a more socially and environmentally conscious way, so I'll include product opinions on occasion. I'll also post tips I come across, and whether or not they worked for me. I invite and encourage my friends to nudge me if I don’t post on this at least bi-weekly. In that way, you can help to keep me accountable to myself, for which I will endlessly appreciate you.
I also intend to do more playing around with my idea that we operate in five domains:
- Biological/Physical
- Psychological
- Social
- Spiritual
- Economical/Financial
All are inter-related yet remain distinct. In therapy, we commonly do a psychosocial assessment of new clients that also incorporates collecting information about the physical health and challenges of the person. The idea is that challenges in these areas of a person’s life affect the overall well-being of the person, and frequently give the clinician cues about what sort of interventions might be effective. When I interned at an Intensive Outpatient Program for substance abuse, I was introduced to an expanded version of the approach. H. Delgado came up with the expanded version and this included the spiritual life of the person. I agree that understanding of one’s vision and practice of spiritual life is vital in psychological and therapeutic practice.
My further expansion on this approach incorporates economy. This is because we live in a world where economy (of money, of time, of attention) and financial status (wealthy, middle-class, working poor, poverty-level, homeless) are intrinsic aspects of our lives in the Western World (tm). I think that all five domains are inter-related, and that changes in one area effect changes in all of the others, to some degree. So, to work with that idea, I’ll be tracking how I’m doing in a Test Subject: Self tag.
Both the Scratch and Test Subject: Self tags will be friends-only and filtered, ‘cuz I’m not trying to put folk to sleep here. So if you’re interested in these, please comment and let me know. Also, since I’m looking at entertaining myself at home a lot more, there may be more tags soon, like Don’t Fuck with Me, I’m CPS and POT (Photo of Today), which may or may not be the day I took the photo, ‘cause as you all know, I’m a lazy ass. In the meantime, here's a photo I took on November 11, 2007 of a view from the Wyndham Rio del Mar hotel in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. Because right now I'm dreaming about being somewhere where the average low is 75 degrees.
I wish you all the best in 2008, and remember that technically, every day is New Year’s Day. So don’t get all mired down in the Gregorian way of being, dig?
Yesterday I was cleaning out a basket of magazine clippings and ran across an article about getting free stuff from Real Simple magazine (March, 2007). In it was a sidebar about a lady who went one year without buying anything she did not consider to be a necessity. Over the course of that year, she saved enough to pay off her personal debt of $8000. It got me to thinking, especially at this time of the year when we are bombarded with invitations to spend, acquire, and consume, how much I could save if I did that for a year.
I don’t remember the last time I made a New Year’s Resolution, because inevitably I have, like many, just ended up letting myself down. So, with considerable anxiety and trepidation, I am making just one for this year: to not buy anything that I don’t consider a necessity. (Yeah, I know. "Way to start small!")
I’m going to keep track of how it goes here under a Scratch tag. I think that half of the challenge and interest for me will be to engage in the ongoing considerations of what I think of as a "necessity." Obviously, we all will arrive at different conclusions, as we each use our unique criteria to sort it all out. I ab-so-lutely encourage you to sound off on that stuff, because nothing looks more weird than some chick arguing with herself by the light of the monitor.
I plan to shop for the necessities in a more socially and environmentally conscious way, so I'll include product opinions on occasion. I'll also post tips I come across, and whether or not they worked for me. I invite and encourage my friends to nudge me if I don’t post on this at least bi-weekly. In that way, you can help to keep me accountable to myself, for which I will endlessly appreciate you.
I also intend to do more playing around with my idea that we operate in five domains:
- Biological/Physical
- Psychological
- Social
- Spiritual
- Economical/Financial
All are inter-related yet remain distinct. In therapy, we commonly do a psychosocial assessment of new clients that also incorporates collecting information about the physical health and challenges of the person. The idea is that challenges in these areas of a person’s life affect the overall well-being of the person, and frequently give the clinician cues about what sort of interventions might be effective. When I interned at an Intensive Outpatient Program for substance abuse, I was introduced to an expanded version of the approach. H. Delgado came up with the expanded version and this included the spiritual life of the person. I agree that understanding of one’s vision and practice of spiritual life is vital in psychological and therapeutic practice.
My further expansion on this approach incorporates economy. This is because we live in a world where economy (of money, of time, of attention) and financial status (wealthy, middle-class, working poor, poverty-level, homeless) are intrinsic aspects of our lives in the Western World (tm). I think that all five domains are inter-related, and that changes in one area effect changes in all of the others, to some degree. So, to work with that idea, I’ll be tracking how I’m doing in a Test Subject: Self tag.
Both the Scratch and Test Subject: Self tags will be friends-only and filtered, ‘cuz I’m not trying to put folk to sleep here. So if you’re interested in these, please comment and let me know. Also, since I’m looking at entertaining myself at home a lot more, there may be more tags soon, like Don’t Fuck with Me, I’m CPS and POT (Photo of Today), which may or may not be the day I took the photo, ‘cause as you all know, I’m a lazy ass. In the meantime, here's a photo I took on November 11, 2007 of a view from the Wyndham Rio del Mar hotel in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. Because right now I'm dreaming about being somewhere where the average low is 75 degrees.
I wish you all the best in 2008, and remember that technically, every day is New Year’s Day. So don’t get all mired down in the Gregorian way of being, dig?