January 22nd came and went with minimal fanfare and pomp and circumstance. One dear friend did send a text congratulating me for making it to 6 months and keeping my word. Thank you Miss A! In fact, thank you all for supporting me and being there through my process, revelations and journey. Many of you completed the survey and 100% agreed that I should stop my Fashion Fast on said date. I enjoyed reading your comments and it helped give me the vote of confidence I needed to come out of my safe, hibernating zone and see how I would manage in the world of shoppers.
I feel good. I have learned so much about myself. In thinking back to when this all started (July 22nd to be exact), I was scared, nervous and couldn’t imagine a life without shopping and all things fashion. It had filled up so much of my physical and emotional space. The issues I wrote about, and struggled with, during the first couple of months of my fast seem like a distant memory. Don’t get me wrong, I still love fashion and appreciate the art of dressing and putting together a great outfit. I just don’t feel the extreme highs when thinking about shopping like I used to. My Fashion Fast was the long overdue break I needed after decades of being on shopping auto pilot.
I tested the waters the other day and went to Bloomingdales. I walked around the store and thought about what I would eventually buy with the money I had been saving for the past 6 months. I surprised myself as nothing really appealed to me. I realized I didn’t really need anything. And more importantly, I didn’t want anything! It felt and feels amazing!
I will continue to use this blog as a way to communicate my progress and check in with you all. It has served as a great support system for me and a way to hold myself accountable. Thanks for being there.
More (or less) to come!
One Day at a Time,
Miss F.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
My Self-Contained Fashion Bubble
Happy New Year fellow followers! I have missed you all. It's been about a month since I last blogged and it's good to be back. The holidays were busy and I am now spending my time in Boston. I appreciate all the feedback, comments and emails you have sent over the last 5 plus months of my fashion fast. I am in the home stretch as it ends on January 22, 2011. I am proud to share that I have remained committed to the fast and have not purchased clothes, jewelry or shoes since this started!
Surprisingly, I'm not really chomping at the bit like I thought I would be to get out there and shop. Some of it is due to a nice healthy amount of avoidance. I've been living in a bit of a self-contained bubble. I haven't opened a catalog, visited an internet shopping site or gone into a store for myself since the start of this fast. And it's been quite easy to not care or long for any particular clothes item (like I have in the past in a very obsessive way). I'm not so sure that this is a realistic gage on how I will do once this fast comes to an end.
I was recently watching one of my new favorite reality shows called, "Celebrity Rehab" with Dr. Drew. In the episode, they took 8 of the in-patient rehab participants on a field trip to the busiest tourist section of Hollywood. The cameras followed the participants around as they walked the streets, had lunch and were tempted by the lure of the drug dealers standing on many of the street corners. The rationale behind putting these folks in a high-risk environment was to prepare them for what the real world would be like once they were discharged from their in-patient treatment center. You see, their in-patient surroundings don't mimic real life. They have a lot of support and are living in somewhat of a self-contained bubble.
So you may be asking how the heck does this relate to my Fashion Fast as clearly this isn't as dire a situation. I agree. Yet, I have real concerns about how I will handle the adjustment back into the real world of shopping. What will it feel like to leaf through a J.Crew catalogue? Will it send my heart racing, which is fine. But will I then begin to earmark all of my favorite "picks" and fixate on what I want for hours and days to come? Up until now, I have really only operated in two speeds- intense shopping mode or avoidant non-shopping mode. I don't really know any other way. I do think from all this distance and time I will be more aware of my "stuff" once I start shopping and hopefully won't slide down the slippery slope into a full "I need, I need, I need" mode.
However, I don't know if it's a good thing to come off the fast at said date or stay on it for a bit longer and continue the self-imposed reflection and distance from the real world. I'm open to suggestions and any advice you can lend. I have created a brief 3 question survey to gather your feedback. Please click on this link to access it Miss F's Survey
Thanks for your guidance!
One Day at a Time,
Miss F.
Surprisingly, I'm not really chomping at the bit like I thought I would be to get out there and shop. Some of it is due to a nice healthy amount of avoidance. I've been living in a bit of a self-contained bubble. I haven't opened a catalog, visited an internet shopping site or gone into a store for myself since the start of this fast. And it's been quite easy to not care or long for any particular clothes item (like I have in the past in a very obsessive way). I'm not so sure that this is a realistic gage on how I will do once this fast comes to an end.
I was recently watching one of my new favorite reality shows called, "Celebrity Rehab" with Dr. Drew. In the episode, they took 8 of the in-patient rehab participants on a field trip to the busiest tourist section of Hollywood. The cameras followed the participants around as they walked the streets, had lunch and were tempted by the lure of the drug dealers standing on many of the street corners. The rationale behind putting these folks in a high-risk environment was to prepare them for what the real world would be like once they were discharged from their in-patient treatment center. You see, their in-patient surroundings don't mimic real life. They have a lot of support and are living in somewhat of a self-contained bubble.
So you may be asking how the heck does this relate to my Fashion Fast as clearly this isn't as dire a situation. I agree. Yet, I have real concerns about how I will handle the adjustment back into the real world of shopping. What will it feel like to leaf through a J.Crew catalogue? Will it send my heart racing, which is fine. But will I then begin to earmark all of my favorite "picks" and fixate on what I want for hours and days to come? Up until now, I have really only operated in two speeds- intense shopping mode or avoidant non-shopping mode. I don't really know any other way. I do think from all this distance and time I will be more aware of my "stuff" once I start shopping and hopefully won't slide down the slippery slope into a full "I need, I need, I need" mode.
However, I don't know if it's a good thing to come off the fast at said date or stay on it for a bit longer and continue the self-imposed reflection and distance from the real world. I'm open to suggestions and any advice you can lend. I have created a brief 3 question survey to gather your feedback. Please click on this link to access it Miss F's Survey
Thanks for your guidance!
One Day at a Time,
Miss F.
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