I, a student, am stopping shopping
When I suggested giving up shopping for a year my mother slowly nodded. I have a lot of ideas that don’t make it through the day. “I’m going to be a minimalist.” “I’ll stop using my phone.” They are all well intended for self-improvement and self-care - but unfortunately, most of them are not self-aware. I like lots of things and I like my phone. But this idea was different, I knew as I told my mum. I actually wanted to do it. Giving up clothes shopping was the solution to other, at first seemingly unrelated, problems. I wanted to spend less while saving more, correct the part of my brain that relates a good day with a good outfit and have something to talk about at family gatherings - other than why I still don’t have a boyfriend. With this, I could subvert spendy student expectations while deflecting questions about my actual life. It was perfect. As always, the idea came from something I read. Ann Patchett’s New Yorker piece was a pithy, reflective, personal articl
