My consumerist spirit was mortally wounded during Holiday Shopping Season 2011. To be fair, it was not robust to begin with. Over the years I have become increasingly discouraged by the countless dollars spent highlighting our deficiencies, typically through unrelated sexualized imagery. The proverbial straw came during a sitcom in December, the climax of the year for that sort of thing. The characters were each naming the one thing they would save if their house were to burn to the ground: adoption papers, engagement ring, IPad.
IPad?
It was the product placement to end all product placements and it struck me as profoundly ridiculous.
Just like that, my sickly consumerist spirit was extinguished.
I started considering my options in my post-consumerism world. Maybe I would avoid the big box stores. Maybe I would only buy things once a month in the hopes of avoiding impulsivity. Maybe I would only buy the things I "need". And then it occurred to me. What is it that I "need" to buy new?
My intention for 2012 is to not purchase anything new and to capture that experience here in order to deepen the experience for myself, keep me honest and commited, and share a different way of consuming with anyone who is interested.
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