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.
I think you might need to avoid the J.Crew catalog forever. I find it impossible to resist. I mean totally. It is the most compelling little composition of style and desire with instant accessibility. Avoiding it so far seems to be working, and setting yourself up for success for the future may involve long term "rules" -- like no J.Crew catalogs. Just a thought. You are doing great! And you aren't missing anything out there, by the way. There's not much in retail that's very exciting these days. With the exception of J.Crew, of course. :-)
ReplyDelete