I have always loved spring cleaning. I take pride in getting rid of stuff I don’t use, stuff that no longer appeals to me, or stuff that deserves a better home. It’s not an easy task, but after much practice over the years I have learned to be ruthless when deciding what needs to go. I mean, if I don’t get rid of stuff how can I get more?

To be clear, I always want more. How can I sleep at night knowing that I will be unable to recreate that one look in that one show when I attend that one event that I am most definitely going to? How can I possibly go shopping online and not buy anything knowing that I do not have that perfect dress for attending that party? Let’s not mention the fact that I am not in the situation career wise or money wise to justify spending that kind of money on any article of clothing (or that I prefer to sit at home on the couch in a sweatshirt).

When I was younger this was an especially bad habit of mine. I had absolutely no business at 16 spending money on something I was never going to wear. And that’s what happened; these articles of clothes would become nothing more than a nice way to fill up my closet. Every time I went to choose an outfit these excess items would always, and I mean always, be overlooked. I would instead go back to that blue shirt that I love to wear to dinner, or those red pair of shoes that I use and abuse so much that a hole is forming on the bottom (this is a true story- I only recently threw these shoes away).

I have fallen into the very trap of materialism that I claim makes our society shallow. Luckily, my conscious has somewhat caught up to me, making me feel guilty whenever I look at the mountain of makeup on my desk that I rarely use. But, what if it didn’t? Sure, I could score an episode on Hoarders but I don’t know that I would ever really get to a point where I was able to say, “okay enough, I am satisfied.”

So, for myself and others, I challenge us to a "no buy season" of our life. I challenge us to be strong enough to realize that happiness will not be found in things. In fact, I bet it will help us grow a much stronger appreciation for the things we already have. For you, it may not be clothes, for you, you may realize you have a thousand water bottles because one or two isn’t enough. You don’t even have to be a chronic shopper but, this is something I believe we can all benefit from especially around the holidays. I can’t blame society for being materialistic and shallow when I am the part of society that is making it materialistic and shallow. It is my desire that we will all be able to plan out a period of time where we can teach ourselves “okay enough, I am satisfied.”