Progress

This morning I was reading my friend Luisa's post about her 'challenge of the utmost kind'. This got me thinking about my own mini Christmas challenge (which was inspired by Luisa's commitment to a year long challenge). I took up the handmade Christmas challenge primarily to support my local crafting/handmaking community and to do my little bit for the environment (for which, admittedly, I could do more). Any one who knows me, knows that I'm a consumer. I love to shop. I love having new things. I went into the challenge thinking that I would buy handmade only for Christmas gifts, but continue my own consumerist ways. After all, you can't change a life time of habit overnight, can you? But as I was reading Luisa's post I started thinking about my own experiences of the handmade Christmas challenge and I realised that something had indeed changed. I've been in a lot of shops lately (an occupational hazard) and I've seen many an item that I would love to buy for myself or give as gifts. Yet I haven't bought any of these items. Not even for myself. This is highly unusual. My Christmas shopping usually goes something like this: buy a present, buy something for me. Buy another present, buy something else for me. I now realise that my attitude to shopping and consumerism as a whole has begun to shift. Instead of going straight into shopping mode and buying without thinking, I have found myself checking labels to see if it is handmade and (shock horror) I've been asking myself, "Do I really need that?" Surprisingly, the answer is usually "no". So, proof that a leopard can indeed change it's spots (or at least, how it thinks about it's spots) and that a seemingly small step can lead to greater change. All that remains is to see if this new attitude lasts...I'll keep you posted (excuse the pun).