Things I’ve learned from killing consumerism #6- I’m still hungover from my drunkenness

I’ve been trying to figure out why it’s been so ridiculously easy for me to quit shopping. So easy, in fact, that I’ve felt like I must be cheating somehow.

There are three options that I can see:

1. I was never really hooked in the first place
2. I’m finding enough loopholes to keep up the habit anyway
3. I’m still hungover from my drunkenness.

I think it’s probably a combination of all three, but the most interesting one is the latter. I’m not a drinker, but I get the impression that when you’re hungover, you really don’t feel the need for another drink. Quitting shopping is easy when you’ve been drunk off of consumerism so long that there is actually nothing you could possibly need.

The deal was that if I needed something, instead of buying, I’d make, or borrow, or swap. It has been two and a half months and I’ve neither made, nor borrowed, nor swapped. I’m full up of stuff.

So why on earth did I shop before? I guess it must have been a hobby; a past time or entertainment.

So now? Well I just replace it with dinners or friends or reading or whatever else I feel like doing and that is that. Because at the moment there’s nothing I need. I’m still drunk from before.

The Holiday Glut

Why do we love to do what is not good for us?

This will be my second Christmas without sugar, and this year I won’t even miss it. I am not tempted at all by chocolate or candy canes or puddings or tarts. My body has learned to see it all as a poison and my mind has followed suit.

But I’m not off the hook. I’m a glutton for other things. As soon as my holidays start my careful health sustaining routine goes out the window. I stay up late and sleep as long as I want. I forget to exercise and I eat when I feel like it, and lo and behold, within two weeks I’m feeling pretty average.

The word gluttony is usually associated with food, but I wonder if I could define it as the excessive consumption of what feels good over what is good? If so, holidays are a prime time for it.

I’ve really been challenged on this. Holidays give us a great chance to relax and let our hair down, but they’re not a time to let our glutinous feelings take over.

This Christmas, let’s remember to honour God with out bodies. Just because we can do it or just because we have the excuse to do it, doesn’t mean we should.

 

Wishing you all a lovely Christmas celebrating the birth of Jesus and a happy, healthy holiday.