#45DaysSober – New Year Resolution

Like every other normal well-meaning person, I do make new year resolutions. And yes, it is usually about eating healthy or exercise almost every year ever since I can recall. And then it all happens all over again… 10 days into the year, something “unavoidable” happens, and then the first inevitable miss occurs.. and slowly but surely the resolution fades away – yeah, that’s why I said – like every other normal person…

Cut to 2020 and some very strange things happened to all of us. I mean, I never thought I would spend so much time all by myself for one.. and many other things too – like I never thought that for 2 full months we would survive like that during lockdown, work+cook+clean – repeat all over – on a seemingly never ending loop. Seeing how little you really need to live, seeing fellow humans suffer, the migrants’ plight, a lot of gratitude for our relative safety – amidst all these – a feeling of shame at all the wastage. Roller coaster of emotions and feeling weak at times, retail therapy and then once again – feeling nauseated at the mountains of “things” that we keep shopping for – the amount of time wanting those things, tracking the “sales”, acquiring them – and then again, the never ending cycle starts over. A lasting impression had stayed with me when I heard a friend talk about decluttering and the Netflix slow by Marie Kondo. And some social media claims by a few friends kept nudging me to really stop… pause… shop your own closet.. and declutter.

So after the festival season splurge notwithstanding, sometime in December i decided to give this a try in 2021 – hence, while I continue to have a healthy diet and regular exercise on my resolution list, here was my newest and most ambitious new year resolution: “One full year of no discretionary shopping” – of course food is not banned – but everything else. Coming from a confirmed deal hunter, that’s big.

Today i am #45dayssober – I am clean on my no shopping resolution for 45 days.. and counting… And I am proud of it. When someone once asked me why I don’t use my new clothes and special stuff immediately – I had thought hard and truthfully answered – “I like to know I have good stuff”.. So from a self-confessed shopaholic, this is a milestone worth celebrating – 45 days done, 320 to go!