Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who are celebrating today!
This year has been really interesting, and I've experienced a lot of changes in my life. I recently noticed another change as U.S. Thanksgiving approached: I'm not paying much attention to Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. I used to really be into this "holiday," as it's arguably the biggest shopping weekend of the year. But this year, I've been thinking about how else I could be spending my time (and cooking is at the top of my list). As I pondered this most recent change, I thought about being grateful, giving thanks, and how I can help anyone who is struggling to not shop, as I was not too long ago. This series came to mind last night, as I was telling hubby I wanted to make turkey again this weekend to celebrate U.S. Thanksgiving. But it was dark, it was late, we were about to go out, and I still had a few things I needed to get done. So I shelved the idea.
This morning, when I woke up, I checked my email and was bombarded with Black Friday deals. I've unsubscribed to a lot of retailer email lists, but a few remain, and those few still managed to fill up my inbox. That's when I promptly took the idea off the shelf and created this video. I have no idea what this 5-part series will entail, but I'll be posting about this topic daily, from today to Cyber Monday.
Here are the 4 questions I ask myself when I want to buy something:
1) Do I really need this?
2) Do I have something in my collection that I can use instead?
3) How will I feel over time if I either buy or do not buy this item?
4) Why do I want this?
While I definitely recommend asking yourself these questions when you're not 100% sure about buying a particular item, it's also helpful to think about these questions if you're looking at an item you believe to be a staple in your life. I tend to ponder these questions in my mind (or talk them over with a friend), but I think it would be interesting to journal on them as well. If you like, you can get deep with these questions and really examine the psychology around why you shop.
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In each of the 5 videos in this series, I'd like to provide a journalling prompt--mainly because I want to journal more! Seriously though, when I stopped shopping, I needed something to occupy the mindspace that shopping took up. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, today's journalling prompt will be:
What are you grateful for that money can't buy?
To go deeper, ask yourself: Why am I grateful for this?
Please join me as I'll be journalling on this at some point today. You can set aside a specific block of time to journal (it could be as little as 5 minutes), or you can add to your journal entry throughout the day each time you feel like buying something. If you don't like journalling, you can just think about the prompt instead of shopping.
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In each video, I'll also ask:
What's the best thing that happened to you today?
My former colleague (and friend) shared this question with me as it's a daily practice she implemented in her life. I loved the concept, but I've been off and on about applying it in my daily life, so I thought we could practice together. My twist for this 5-part series is that my answer can't involve shopping.
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That's it for now. I hope you will find this series helpful!
