A look back at 2012

2012 was a pretty epic year for me.  I completed my second 70.3 Ironman, had an incredible Chicago Marathon experience (my first was horrible), became an AUNT to the most wonderful little angel,  traveled to California & Colorado, found a love for Crossfit and got ENGAGED!  I am sure I missing something here, but you get the point.  2012 was the bomb diggty (no doubt).  I didn’t even have to hide in my closet waiting for the world to end, winning.

But what I really want to talk about here is one of the goals I set for myself in 2012.  To not buy ANY clothes for myself for 365 days, and yes I went through with it and no it actually was not as hard as I thought it would be. I do have to confess however, I did purchase A Chicago Marathon finisher shirt, so shoot me.  One thing all year is still pretty impressive, at least I think so.

My decision to do this was inspired by many different things.  The first was my 2011 trip to Indonesia.  I spent two weeks with an amazing team building a home for a family that suffered from much loss and in the material sense, had nothing.  When you spend time with children who do not own shoes,  wear the same shirt for sometimes months on end and a dinner luxury is having fruit; it makes you really think about all the times you complain having nothing to eat or nothing to wear.  For me it was a spiritual awakening that has forever changed me.  It has been over a year since I left Indonesia and I still think about that family every single day.    Unfortunately, I returned to a society that lives and breathes excess and I needed to do SOMETHING to keep me grounded.

I also made this a resolution because like most females,  my closet was out of control.   I was starting to get sucked into this whole “I have to keep up with the trends” mentality or “That shirt is only $8, so I should buy it” or I have somewhere to go tonight and “I do not have ANYTHING to wear!”.  I want my life to be more simple.  I want to want less.  I also want to go back to the Jill who spent her free time running, reading, writing, doing things for my soul- not shopping for the next clearance item.   I want to go back to the Jill that could live on 5 t-shirts and 1 pair of holey jeans for a solid month and didn’t care what people thought.   Oh and news flash, people really do not notice your clothes as much as you think.  Sorry to burst your bubble.

Of course another reason for this resolution was to be more aware of my spending.  Just because it is on SALE does not mean I need to buy it, even sale items add up to a ridiculous amount of cash spent.   Cash that should be saved.

So fast forward now, my challenge is complete.  What did I learn from it?  I learned that when I have LESS clothes in my closet the “stress” of what to wear is actually not as bad.  I learned that spending those rare hours on a weekend when I have free time going on walks with Shain & Wyatt, reading, or just being by myself instead of going to mall, are SO much more rewarding.  I learned that after a year of not buying things and continually purging,  I STILL have too much.  As funny as it sounds, I sometimes spend HOURS doing laundry, hanging up and folding clothes.  HOURS!! Ask any of my former roommates, they will tell you.  How much time do YOU spend taking care of your STUFF?! Time that could be spent doing things you love.

You are also probably wondering if I went straight to the mall on January 1st to go on a shopping spree, I didn’t.  I am so happy that this resolution did exactly what I wanted it to.  I want less.  Sure, I will pick up some new things that I will be VERY excited about, but nothing crazy.  Because I do not need ANYTHING.

I will leave you with a quote that I taped on my mirror to help keep me focused on this resolution:

“Stop buying the unnecessary. 

Toss half your stuff, learn contentedness. 

Reduce half again.  List 4 essential things in your life, do these first. 

STOP doing non-essential things. 

Clear Distractions, focus on each moment. 

Let go of attachment to doing, having more. 

Fall in love with less.”

Stay blessed in the mess 🙂